Chapter 1 The Start

More than a dozen corpses lay scattered on the ground. Because many of them were incomplete, the surrounding air was thick with the stench of blood. Fortunately, the environment here was somewhat like a tropical rainforest, with numerous swamp snakes and insects, so the corpses wouldn't take long to return to the embrace of nature.

Zhou Ze and Lawyer An had no interest in knowing the identities of these people. They had their own reasons for being out here. The reason they eliminated them wasn't out of a sense of justice to reduce the burden on the border guards or to enhance the safety of the people of the motherland.

It was purely because one idiot's aim was too accurate.

A stray bullet nearly messed up Lawyer An directly.

Xu Qinglang took out mineral water from his backpack and began to wash his hands.

Zhou Ze, on the other hand, looked around the corpses and picked up a pistol. Zhou Ze didn't know what model it was, and no one in the team did either. He also found the bullets, then tossed the gun to Yingying, asking her to clean it up, purely as a souvenir.

After some preparations, the group set off again.

In fact, they weren't far from their destination, but there were no means of transportation here, so they could only walk. The road was extremely muddy and difficult to traverse, so their speed was naturally slow.

At the same time,

leeches hid among the branches and leaves of the trees they passed. As soon as someone touched a branch, they would immediately jump out and burrow into their clothes.

You wouldn't feel it at first when these things sucked your blood, so many inexperienced people who entered this type of rainforest would often only discover that their backs were covered with engorged leeches when they sat down to rest against a large tree.

Yingying wasn't afraid of these, but the other three men had to worry more about them. This was a biological weapon; talismans and talisman water were ineffective against them.

Baleful aura or demon energy was effective, but they couldn't constantly release it as they walked, could they? They weren't perpetual motion machines.

They walked and stopped, stopped and walked,

until night fell again.

Lawyer An investigated repeatedly,

then breathed a long sigh of relief,

and said that they had arrived.

The destination didn't have a five-star apartment nestled in the mountains,

nor did it have rising smoke from chimneys and a table full of delicious food.

In fact,

the destination

was a mountain range stretching for hundreds of miles—

Yeren Mountain (Wild Man Mountain)!

"A good place. Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times here back in the day,"

Lawyer An said with a smile,

then casually plucked a leech that had just attached itself to his arm and threw it away.

Because it had only just landed, the leech hadn't had time to break the skin and suck blood, so it was easy to remove. Otherwise, once it started sucking blood, it wouldn't be easy to just pinch it off like that.

Actually,

Yeren Mountain was also very famous in the country, but it was quite different from the way Shennongjia became famous for its Wild Man legends in its early years.

Lawyer An said this in accordance with his previous meaning; some things could be known in the heart, but couldn't be said.

Zhou Ze glanced at Lawyer An and directly retorted,

"When Zhuge Liang led his troops out of Chengdu to quell the rebellion, he only fought as far as Kunming. How could he have run all the way here?"

Novel adaptations and history were easily confused,

but

the area of Yeren Mountain was indeed Chinese territory in history, but due to a series of modern upheavals, a lot of the original territory was lost, and many territorial disputes remained.

It could only be said that the ancestors were too good at fighting, creating such a large family estate,

while later generations were too useless and incompetent, unable to defend it.

"Why be so serious? Being serious takes all the fun out of it," Lawyer An said nonchalantly. He looked at the sky and said, "Let's rest here tonight and go in tomorrow. There are still some things we need to prepare before we go in."

Next was setting up camp.

They had brought a full set of camping equipment, and Yingying, with her great strength, carried so much stuff on her back without getting tired at all.

Xu Qinglang began to cook. The conditions here were limited, and no one was interested in hunting for wild game, so cooking meant nothing more than mixing noodles with vegetable soup.

Lawyer An went outside and chopped down a lot of branches, smoothed them out, and then took out leather paper and candles from his backpack. After dinner, he sat there quietly working on his task.

Zhou Ze first went back to the tent with Yingying to sleep for a while. Perhaps because he was worried about going into the mountains for real after dawn, he woke up not long after falling asleep.

When he came out of the tent, Zhou Ze saw Lawyer An still sitting there working, guarding the bonfire in front of him. Xu Qinglang had also gone to rest long ago.

"Is that… making lanterns?"

Zhou Ze pointed to the "work" that Lawyer An had completed in front of him.

Five lanterns, with candles placed inside, were divided into red and white, and the candles were all white wax.

Lawyer An was making the sixth lantern. Most of the materials had been brought in his backpack, and only the branches were locally sourced.

"Mmm…"

Lawyer An stretched,

yawned,

and nodded.

"Yeah, lanterns."

Zhou Ze poured a cup of water from his thermos and held it in his hand, slowly drinking it. He looked at the valley in front of him and said,

"Isn't this… a bit too much?"

In his life,

Zhou Ze had experienced some relatively large scenes,

Three Villages counted as one,

and the little boy's underground cave also counted as one,

but those two, compared to what awaited him in front of him after dawn,

were nothing.

Lawyer An picked up his Super-Overlord cup,

took several large gulps of coffee,

smacked his lips,

looked at Zhou Ze,

and smiled.

"Boss, are you scared?"

Zhou Ze shook his head. "I just don't want any more accidents to happen. We came out together, so we have to go back safe and sound together."

Lawyer An opened his mouth, wanting to say that his boss shouldn't be so soft-hearted, but then he thought that he was also his subordinate, and there was no need for him to advise his boss not to care about his own life, so he said nothing.

There were no stars tonight, which meant the weather wouldn't be good tomorrow.

Lawyer An finally finished making all seven lanterns. They weren't very big. Three were hung on each side of two thicker wooden sticks, and a vine connected the two sticks, with one lantern hanging on it.

One person could lift them all up, and the posture was a bit like a palanquin bearer carrying a sedan chair.

When everything was ready,

Lawyer An took out a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to Zhou Ze, and lit it for him.

"His slumber isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least, Boss, you're more cautious than before."

Zhou Ze shook his head indifferently, exhaled a smoke ring, and denied it.

"It's not just a simple fear of death. When he was still around, although I used his power many times, the worst outcome was just him swallowing me up.

Now that he's gone, the worst outcome has become me having to take him and die together, a real death, meaning a permanent end."

"Heh, men with families are just different,"

Lawyer An joked.

Zhou Ze lowered his head and took a sip of water.

In the past few days, he had been wondering why he had agreed to Lawyer An's suggestion and traveled all the way here.

The bookstore being destroyed by the explosion was just an excuse.

He was a lazy person, lazy to the bone.

He had thought about this question for a long time, but still couldn't find the answer.

Was it because Tie Hanhan (Iron Clumsy) was sleeping?

Was it because of that Mount Tai in the depths of his soul?

Perhaps,

what Lawyer An had just said was right.

When he was alone, he could feed himself and not worry about the whole family. It didn't matter whether he was freely exiled or just drifting with the tide.

But when he was responsible for others, he was too embarrassed to continue lying there, sunbathing and turning over.

In his previous life, he was an orphan, working hard and struggling for himself. In this life, he had become lazy.

He had no relatives and had never been married. To be precise, apart from his patients, Zhou Ze didn't understand what "responsibility" really meant.

"Boss, sometimes I'm quite envious of you," Lawyer An said, taking another big gulp of coffee, then wiping the corner of his eye.

He drank the expired Nescafé instant coffee as if it were Moutai.

"When I was a constable, I had five subordinates. Four of them died, and only Feng Si'er was left alive.

Heh,

it's not very glorious.

Those four people died in accidents because I was trying to fulfill my ambition.

When I was alive, I was a rich young master. After I died and became a ghost, I still wanted to be 'a person above others.'

So, after Feng Si'er betrayed me, I hated him a lot at first, but slowly, I stopped hating him."

"Can you get drunk on coffee?"

Zhou Ze became the destroyer of the small, fresh atmosphere.

"Hehe," Lawyer An raised his head and said, "Boss, some things I shouldn't say. I know you won't listen even if I say them, but I still have to say them, or I won't feel comfortable.

I don't hate Feng Si'er, but I never thought I did anything wrong. Those in power shouldn't value the lives of their subordinates too much."

As he spoke,

Lawyer An leaned closer to Zhou Ze, stared into Zhou Ze's eyes, and said very seriously,

"Because, including me, you don't really know what everyone wants, and you don't know what kind of thoughts we have buried in our hearts.

Once their value has been squeezed out,

those who should die,

just let them die,

to avoid becoming a problem in the future."

"You're really drunk."

Zhou Ze reached out and patted Lawyer An's shoulder.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm drunk."

The two men stopped talking,

the evening breeze brought coolness and silence.

They just sat together like that,

smoking one cigarette after another,

unconsciously,

the sky was slowly brightening.

Zhou Ze's prediction was correct.

The weather wasn't very good today,

because patches of mist had already risen from the surrounding forests, shrouding the Yeren Mountain range in front of them in a dreamlike haze.

Xu Qinglang and Yingying also came out of their respective tents, and everyone ate breakfast together.

After the meal,

Lawyer An stood up,

loosened his muscles,

then turned around to face Zhou Ze, pointed to the Yeren Mountain range behind him,

and shouted to Zhou Ze,

"Boss, I said that some things might not work if you say them, and in fact, they're meaningless to say.

Just forget that I brought you here to become a constable.

Just remember

that more than seventy years ago,

more than 40,000 soldiers who fought for the country were left on the road home.

They have been waiting here for more than seventy years.

Today,

please lead them out of this Yeren Mountain,

lead them,

home!"