A small tent was being erected with difficulty in the rain.

“Can’t you help out?” the young man shouted. “Keep the flashlight steady!”

“What are you yelling about? I’ve never seen anyone so clumsy!” The female voice wasn’t backing down either.

A woman actually daring to speak to a man like this…

So this is how women are in this place…

The bickering pair spent half the day finally getting the tent set up and crawled inside. Though it swayed in the wind and rain, it at least provided shelter from the storm.

The bright light cast two shadows on the tent walls. With light, shelter, and a small stove lit, it felt as safe as being in the most bustling part of the city.

The wind and rain outside were left behind them, and they certainly wouldn’t notice the pair of eyes watching them through the heavy rain.

At dawn, the two who had somehow ended up sleeping cuddled together woke up.

“The rain stopped!” The young man unzipped the tent and looked outside, shouting.

He crawled out first, followed by the young woman rubbing her eyes.

The mountain forest after the rain was refreshingly clear. The morning light was just beginning to rise, dewdrops sparkled, birds sang mournfully – nothing like the sinister atmosphere of the night.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful!” the young woman exclaimed, spreading her arms and spinning in a circle.

“See? I told you this place was beautiful,” the young man said with some pride, while crawling back into the tent to get his camera and began taking photos with rapid clicks.

Not to be outdone, the young woman took out her phone and took selfie after selfie, then tapped away at her phone screen.

“…Let all you people properly envy this young lady,” she said.

After taking photos, posting on Weibo, and enjoying all the amazed praise from Weibo and WeChat, the young woman waved her hand dismissively.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. This trip was worth it. Let’s go quickly,” she said, calling to the young man who was still jumping around, lying down and getting up, constantly taking photos.

Only then did the young man reluctantly put away his camera.

“Is there any food left?” the young woman asked, taking out a small bag and cosmetic case to tidy herself up.

“Let me look,” the young man said, going into the tent and pulling out a backpack, rummaging through several pouches. “Only some beef jerky left…”

“Forget it then, I won’t eat,” the young woman said, putting away her compact. “Let’s go quickly. We’ll go down the mountain to find a hotel and eat some hot food.”

The young man nodded in agreement.

The two began packing up the tent.

“Hey, handsome. I haven’t asked yet – what’s your phone number?” the young woman said.

“No problem, beautiful,” the young man laughed, rattling off a number. “Beautiful lady, how about your real name?”

The young woman snorted and gave him a sideways glance.

“A name is just a code anyway. What does it matter if it’s real or fake? That you and I had the fortune to travel together once in this lifetime is already enough,” she said.

The young man laughed cheerfully.

So they were… strangers?

Behind the bushes, a man who seemed to blend with the shrubs frowned.

Were they lovers meeting in the wild…?

The people here… are all like this…

He didn’t look away, staring intently at these two people. Every move they made.

In daylight, he could finally see their strange attire clearly…

But if this was the custom here, he had to learn quickly…

“Hey, have you figured out the direction yet?” the young woman asked impatiently.

The young man had been crouching on the ground fiddling with something for a long time.

“This compass must have gotten water in it. Why isn’t it working?” he said.

“Oh my god, you’re really stupid. Experience, experience – all that experience you bragged about before was just hot air, wasn’t it? You can’t even tell east from west,” the young woman said impatiently.

The young man mumbled something unintelligible, and the young woman pulled out her phone.

“Let’s call for help. We’re not walking anymore, I’m exhausted. Let’s have the search and rescue team come carry us down,” she said. “I’ll post on Weibo.”

At the front desk of a small hotel, a young man was fooling around with a computer.

“Oh my god…” he said, “Another stupid hiker got lost.”

The door was pushed open and two police officers walked in.

“Chief Zhou,” the young man quickly stood up to greet them.

“What are you doing?” Old Zhou asked, glancing at the front desk.

“Just browsing online. Hey, hey, Chief Zhou, look – someone else got lost and is calling for help,” the young man quickly turned the computer screen to show the officer.

Old Zhou glanced at it casually.

“This kind of thing is happening more and more,” he said.

“They don’t consider the strain on grassroots police. With just two or three people in our station, we couldn’t rescue them all even if we wanted to,” the other officer said, leaning over to look.

“No need to worry, it’s nowhere near our jurisdiction,” the young man said with a smile, then looked at Old Zhou. “Chief Zhou, what official business brings you here?”

“Oh, that person who stayed here yesterday – everything alright?” Old Zhou asked.

The young man made an acknowledging sound.

“No problem. My mom checked on him every hour last night. He was fine, left early this morning,” he said.

The officers nodded approvingly at the first part, but were startled by the latter.

“Where did he go?” he asked.

“How would I know?” the young man was also startled.

“Quick, go find him. Don’t let him find some place to harm himself,” Old Zhou said, heading outside. “With our remote mountains and rough terrain, we can’t have more of these incidents. I’ll have to file a report with the bureau, request more personnel…”

The group rushed out anxiously. Just as they were worrying about how to search, Old Zhou’s phone rang.

“Chief Zhou, that crazy woman is here again!” a shrill voice from the scenic area management office screamed through the phone.

Qi Yue grabbed the management staff member’s arm.

“I’ll give you money, I’ll give you money. Please let me take these remains away, okay?” she pleaded, forcibly pushing the wallet from her backpack toward them. “If this isn’t enough, I can get more. How much do you want? How much do you want? Just name your price and I’ll pay it all!”

Tears fell from her eyes as she spoke.

The scenic area management staff stood around, not daring to approach or leave, basically guarding against this woman breaking into the tomb chamber again.

“Miss, please don’t make trouble. Please calm down…” everyone said.

“I’m begging you, I’m begging you,” Qi Yue cried, extending her hand with the wallet, waving it around desperately.

Someone take her money, take her money.

Someone give her hope, give her hope.

The roar of a car engine came from down the mountain.

Before the car had stopped, Huang Ying jumped out through the opening door. Peng Jiahai followed closely behind.

“Qi Yue!” she called out, running toward them.

Qi Yue was already crouched on the ground, holding her head and crying, still clutching the wallet in her trembling hand.

“Give you money, give you money. Let me take him away, let me take him away,” she repeated in a mumble.

“Qi Yue,” Huang Ying crouched down to help her. “What’s wrong? What’s really wrong?”

“Sister Huang, Sister Huang,” Qi Yue heard the familiar voice and reached out to grab her. “Did you bring money? Did you bring money?”

“I brought some, I brought some,” Huang Ying said.

Qi Yue grabbed her.

“Give it to me, give it to me. We’ll give them everything. Buy it. However much they want, we’ll give them all,” she mumbled, standing up again and reaching toward the management staff.

The management staff had already explained the situation to the people who came with Huang Ying.

“She insists on buying,” they pointed toward the tomb chamber, “the remains in there.”

Hearing this, Peng Jiahai looked toward the tomb chamber, completely puzzled.

Huang Ying also glanced at Qi Yue, who had quieted down but was still holding her knees and crying silently.

What was this about?

“Alright, alright. Recently their department might be short on human skeletal models for medicine, and maybe the one in there is particularly suitable…” she forced a smile to explain to the surrounding people. “You know, sometimes these doctors and researchers can be very… fanatical…”

The surrounding people finally understood and nodded. When they looked at Qi Yue again, they showed some understanding.

“Qi Yue,” Peng Jiahai crouched down and reached out to take her hand.

Qi Yue jerked back sharply.

Peng Jiahai sighed and didn’t reach out again.

“Those remains – are they very important?” he asked.

At the mention of the remains, Qi Yue looked up at him.

“Very important, very important, very important,” she said in a trembling voice, three times in succession.

Huang Ying had already finished discussing with the people there.

“Qi Yue, let’s go down the mountain first. Whatever you need, we can discuss it properly, okay?” she said, also crouching down.

Qi Yue shook her head and looked toward the tomb chamber.

“I’m not going anywhere…” she mumbled, tears blurring her vision.

Not going anywhere…

Chang Yuncheng, I’ll stay with you…

I’m not going anywhere…

Chang Yuncheng, I’ll only stay with you…

A strange rumbling sound came from overhead.

What was that?

The man in the bushes looked up through the gaps in the leaves.

The trees blocked out the sky – he couldn’t see anything.

“Here, here!”

The man and woman in the clearing were already waving clothes in their hands, jumping around and shouting.

“Holy shit,” the young man shouted. “A helicopter! This is my first time!”

Helicopter? Chicken?

Was that the source of the sound?

The man moved slightly, then suddenly tensed his entire body, tilting his ear toward one direction before turning and slipping out of the bushes.

The shouting young man and woman didn’t notice the movement.

Soon, barking sounds could be heard.

“They’re coming, they’re coming!” the young woman shouted.

“Ah, so it’s people coming after all. Really, why did the helicopter fly away?” the young man said with some disappointment.

As they spoke, over ten soldiers in military uniform ran out from the forest, with three military dogs leaping among them.

These people were…

They clearly had the bearing of deliberate training, though they couldn’t be called fierce…

Though still wearing strange clothes, they were uniform.

People in uniform clothing must not be ordinary civilians.

“…What’s wrong with you two? Why didn’t you follow the designated route?”

“What business is it of yours?”

“We should be asking why you came so late…”

“…We’re taxpayers… you have an obligation…”

Below, everyone was arguing chaotically. Soon people began retreating.

But the military dogs kept barking and struggling.

“What’s wrong?” a soldier asked.

“Don’t know, seems like there’s someone else here?” said the soldier holding the dogs.

As he said this, he released the military dogs.

The dogs barked frantically and charged in one direction.

Really someone there?

Someone loudly asked the man and woman.

“No one,” came the reply.

At the same time, the three military dogs dragged out a piece of clothing from behind the bushes.

So it was just clothing.

Everyone shook their heads in relief.

“Hey, isn’t that my pants?” the young man shouted. “Damn, when did they get out there!”

“Probably washed away by the rain last night,” the young woman said.

A soldier took the pants from the dogs and tossed them to the young man.

The military dogs were still barking, looking like they wanted to run elsewhere.

The soldier quickly held them back.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” the squad leader shouted, waving toward them. “Fall back, fall back!”

The soldier pulled the still-barking military dogs and walked away.

The sun gradually reached its zenith, and the forest returned to complete silence. From a large tree not far away, a naked man slid down. In the sunlight, his robust physique gleamed with what might have been sweat or rainwater.

He jumped down in a few quick movements, his half-dry long hair covering his face. He reached up with both hands to push back his hair, gradually revealing a broad forehead, thick eyebrows and large eyes, a high nose bridge, thin lips and a strong jaw.

He reached out to pull off nearby branches and leaves, weaving them with practiced, swift movements. Soon a short skirt for modesty was tied around his waist. His eyes bright and piercing, he looked toward the direction those people had left.

This strange and wondrous bizarre world – I have arrived.