Thick, dark clouds pressed down on the sky like lead blocks, shrouding the entire valley in shadow. Even though it was only evening, there seemed to be no sunlight at all.
Compared to before, the rainfall seems to be less now, but prolonged soaking in the rain still makes people feel very uncomfortable.
In the dim forest, a man wearing a black military overcoat walked up a muddy hill, glanced back at the village in the valley that had been reduced to ruins, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He turned around and continued climbing the mountain, his eyes scanning the surrounding earth and rocks as if searching for something.
The mountainside, soaked by rain for a long time, is very soft. Stepping on it can easily cause you to slip and fall along the muddy path, or some rocks may fall down the mountainside.
This isn't a mountain in a scenic area with hard, neat stone steps or large platforms for resting and enjoying the view. Here, there are only rugged, winding mountain paths and rainwater flowing down like a babbling brook.
Suddenly, he seemed to hear something and turned his head sharply to look.
On the path he had come from, three figures were struggling to climb towards him. Deng Wei looked up and called out in a hoarse voice:
"Shen...Brother Shen! Wait for us...we can't go on..."
Shen Qingzhu frowned deeply. "You? What are you doing here?"
"Brother Shen, others may not know you, but don't we know you well?" Li Liang smiled. "You say you won't come, but you definitely won't listen to what the instructors say. You'll definitely sneak off to find that girl's parents yourself..."
"So, we all slipped out while we were in the mountains using the toilet," Li Jia continued.
Shen Qingzhu stared blankly at them, covered in mud, for a moment before cursing, "Damn it, don't act like you know me so well. I just got tired of sitting and came out for a walk..."
Deng Wei and his two companions walked up to Shen Qingzhu with smiles, looked around, and said, "Brother Shen, how should we divide the work? Just give us the directions!"
Shen Qingzhu:...
His lips twitched slightly. After a long pause, he finally spoke softly, "The visibility is poor right now, so we can't spread out too much. Let's keep a distance of five meters from each other and search little by little."
"Alright, Brother Shen!"
"...You weren't discovered when you arrived, were you?"
"Don't worry, Brother Shen," Deng Wei said confidently, patting his chest. "We were very careful; no one could possibly have noticed."
"That's good."
...
Village No. 1, village entrance.
Lin Qiye, wearing a black military overcoat, leaned against a large tree, his eyes slightly narrowed as he gazed at the distant mountain peaks that were gradually fading into darkness.
Baili Pangpang hurriedly ran out of the dilapidated house in the village, came to Lin Qiye's side, and said hastily:
"Qiye, Shen Qingzhu has disappeared. Deng Wei, Li Jia, and Li Liang said they went to the toilet, but they haven't returned yet. The instructor said they might have secretly gone to search for Ya Ya's parents."
Lin Qiye glanced at him and said helplessly, "It's not a possibility, they went to search and rescue."
Baili Pangpang was taken aback. "How did you know?"
"I watched with my own eyes as Deng Wei and his two companions sneaked out of the village and headed straight for the mountains."
"Where is your sister?"
"She went along with them too, since she said she didn't feel at ease."
"..."
"Then, why didn't you stop them?"
"We can't stop them." Lin Qiye shook his head. "If Shen Qingzhu goes, they'll definitely go too. Rather than causing trouble for both sides, it's better to turn a blind eye."
Baili Pangpang sighed, looked at the dark mountain peak, and after a long while, spoke somewhat uncertainly:
"It's so dark, I hope nothing bad has happened to them..."
Lin Qiye remained silent.
"Qiye, what do you think... how about we sneak out and help them?" Baili Pangpang asked again, trying to find a way to get Lin Qiye to respond.
Lin Qiye smiled helplessly, "Don't test me. I'll definitely help, but blindly rushing into the mountains like they do won't work. We need to be strategic."
"Methods? What other methods could there be?" Baili Pangpang asked blankly.
"Why do you think I've been sitting here all this time?" Lin Qiye said calmly.
He looked up at the darkening sky, stretched out a finger, and several bats flew down from the sky, circling around him. At the same time, countless insects emerged from the soft soil, surrounding Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye is like their king.
When Baili Pangpang saw this scene, he was so shocked that his mouth dropped open.
"Still a little short, not enough." Lin Qiye gently shook his head. "The night needs to be even darker..."
...
In the dark woods of the village, four figures, arranged in a square, held flashlights and searched slowly and carefully.
While on the truck, the instructors distributed flashlights to each rescue team, especially to the teams heading into the deep mountains. Flashlights are not usually given during extreme training to improve their ability to adapt to darkness, but this was not the time for training.
Without these flashlights, the four of them would have been wandering aimlessly through the jungle like blind men feeling their way, and might have even gotten lost in the forest. In that case, they would have been in danger themselves, let alone being able to rescue anyone.
"Brother Shen!" Suddenly, Li Jia seemed to have spotted something and shouted, "Here!"
Shen Qingzhu immediately ran to Li Jia's side and looked in the direction of the flashlight beam. There he saw a worn-out women's sneaker lying in the muddy soil.
"It's stuck in the mud, and there's no sign of it drying out. It must have been left here after the mudslide." Shen Qingzhu's eyes gradually brightened.
"So... these might be Ya Ya's mother's shoes? She's not dead?" Li Jia's eyes widened.
"It's possible!" Shen Qingzhu said firmly. "Spread out and search this area to see if there are any other clues."
Finding the lost woman's shoe boosted the morale of the four men, and they began a thorough search in all directions, using the shoe as the center.
Li Jia walked slowly along the slippery mountain path, the beam of his flashlight constantly flickering on the ground around him. He looked up into the distance; they were now far from the village and could no longer see it at all.
He lowered his head and continued his search.
Rustle, rustle...
Suddenly, a slight sound came from the side. Li Jia was startled, and a look of joy appeared in his eyes. He shone the light of his flashlight to the side.
On the mountain path not far away, a man carrying an axe was leisurely walking towards them.
"Are you... are you Ya Ya's father?" Li Jia asked excitedly.
"Ya Ya? I don't know any Ya Ya." The man chuckled, revealing yellow teeth, and his narrow eyes sized Li Jia up and down.
"But you little brat, your head's gotten pretty mature, it's time to pick it off."
In the beam of the flashlight, a sinister smile appeared on the man's lips, and he swung the large axe slung over his shoulder in an instant, the light flashing!