The Altai Mountains, one of the largest mountain systems in Central Asia, straddle the territories of China, Mongolia, Russia, and Kazakhstan, stretching for more than 2,000 kilometers.
The part in China belongs to the southern slope of the middle section of the mountain system, and the large desert at the foot of the mountain is the Altay region of our country.
This is the northern end of the Junggar Basin, and it is also the gap where the northwest monsoon enters. A monsoon in mid-October brought the first snow in the second half of this year.
The herdsmen here choose to live in water and grass, and travel thousands of kilometers every year so that their livestock can eat grass.
The heavy snow fell, indicating that the season of livestock fattening is over. The herdsmen began to count the harvest of this year, and then found a place to set up camp to survive the long winter here.
Along with the snow came a young man in a leather jacket.
After the young man walked out of the Gurbantunggut desert in the south, he has been hanging behind a family of migrating herdsmen.
The relatively harsh natural environment has created the sturdy folk customs here.
There are more than 20 herdsmen in this family of four generations, old and young. In order to guard against wolves and bandits, they have their own weapons all the year round.
Horse thieves were rampant here in the early years, and the abnormal behavior of this young man chasing him from a distance caught the attention of the herdsmen.
The old herdsmen said that before the horse thieves attacked, they would send a scout to follow behind the herdsmen to observe for a period of time. One is to find out the details of the herdsmen's property, whether the appraised value is worth doing, and the other is to observe the herdsmen's living habits and plan how to do it.
Once the herdsmen are targeted by such scouts, they will be in big trouble.
However, after the founding of New China, the horse thieves here have been exterminated by the government one after another. In the past two decades, the horse thieves have almost disappeared.
But this lonely young man awakened the herdsman's memory of the horse thief. The horror and depression experienced by generations shrouded the heart of this herdsman.
This kind of horse thief's scout. Killing cannot be killed, once it is killed, the horse thieves will be annoyed, and they will become more cruel when they start their actions.
The more sensible way is to invite the scouts over to have a discussion, to find out what the other party is saying, to find out the details of this horse thief, and to see whether the other party is just extorting money, or is really trying to kill and steal. If it's the latter, let's talk about whether we can avoid financial disaster.
So the head of the herdsman, a middle-aged man in his forties, led his three sons, surrounded the young man, and invited him to drink a cup of tea in the tent.
The boy did not refuse, so the host and guest were seated soon.
Compared with the severe cold outside, the temporary tent was steaming, but the atmosphere inside was very embarrassing.
In addition to the unknown identity of the young man, the herdsmen did not know whether he was an enemy or a friend, and it was also because the young man seemed to be dumb.
He can't speak, and the two parties have been gesticulating for a long time, and the communication failed.
The host felt a little flustered, like a horse thief.
Sending a dumb guy over completely cut off the herdsmen's idea of negotiating, just to let the kid see clearly and go back and draw a picture before doing it.
The old man in the family is still experienced, and the mute can't speak, but he is also a human being, and any human being will be hungry.
Let's see if he eats or not.
As a result, he was given tea, but he refused to drink it.
Serve him wine, he doesn't move.
It wasn't until he caught the sheep with his hands in a plate and thanked the master with his palms together, that he began to feast on it.
This boy is not tall and looks a little thin, but his appetite for meat is very scary.
Moreover, he eats very quickly, basically without chewing, and swallows directly into his stomach. A plate of four or five catties of boiled mutton was like a storm, and the plate was empty in two or three minutes.
"This is how wolves eat." The herdsmen murmured in their hearts, but they let their hearts hang high.
If you are willing to eat, it means there is something to talk about.
Then go ahead and feed the boy, and it won't be too late to find out more about him.
As a result, this decision made by the herdsmen made them regret for a whole winter.
Because this kid is so delicious.
As the saying goes, half-children eat and run away from me. This young man killed three sheep with one meal.
So whether to keep him for a second meal or not became a question.
The eating habits of the herdsmen here are different from those in most parts of the country. The staple food is meat.
Meat is rich in nutrients and digested slowly, so three meals a day are out of the question, and often there is only one big meal in a day or two.
But even if it is one meal a day or two, with the young man's appetite, the herdsman's flock will be less than half in a week.
If the young man is a guest, the host will not feel sorry for him.
The way of hospitality of the nomads has been passed down since ancient times, the less polite the guests are, the happier the host will be.
But the question now is, is this kid a guest
This matter troubled the herdsman for two days, and it was not until the third night that he finally knew the answer.
Because this night, the wolf came.
The wolves here are forest wolves living in the Altai Mountains. They are much larger than the prairie wolves on the Mongolian grasslands. Some of them are strong and can grow as big as donkeys.
However, this is the first time the herdsmen have seen a wolf as big as this time.
It was a big wolf with a shoulder height similar to that of a human being. It was about 1.7 meters long and nearly five meters long. Its body was snow white, and its eyes were blue, just like sapphires.
This white wolf was big and beautiful, with a majestic but not ferocious face, which made the herdsmen unable to raise their guns.
But when it walked slowly into the herdsman's camp, the more than a dozen shepherd dogs kept by the herdsman's house were all lying on the ground shivering, pooping all over the floor.
It walked outside the tent door and met the boy.
Only then did the host realize that the boy was not dumb, he could speak.
I saw him gently stroking the white wolf's head, whispering something in his mouth, then turned over and rode on the white wolf's back.
Standing on the wolf's back, the young man clasped his hands with his master, smiling brightly.
Then he shouted, and one man and one wolf roared away.
The owner could vaguely see a long and slender Tang saber stuck in the bag on the wolf's body.
On the handle of the knife handle, a bronzing Chinese character is very eye-catching.
"chapter".
This is the last descendant of Sai Beizhang's family, the first action of "adult hunting" when he was eighteen years old.
He protected a group of herdsmen for three days, until they were far away from the threat of a beast xenomorph.
…
"What deal?"
In the inpatient department of Capital Third Hospital, Lin Shuo looked at Anne who was half lying on the hospital bed, and asked softly.
"According to the information provided by the International Biological Research Association, Mongolia is located at the foot of the Altai Mountains. A total of 34 herdsmen from two families died, and the death patterns were surprisingly consistent. They were all in cardiac arrest. After the Mongolian police inspected the scene , has ruled out the possibility of man-made. We have reason to believe that this village was attacked by strange creatures." Anne said.
"Cardiac arrest?" Lin Shuo frowned slightly, he understood in his heart, but he still asked, "Is that all? Is there any other information?"
"No more." Anne shook her head with a wry smile. "We won't know more until we go to the scene to take a look."
"Should we still bring scholars like He Zihong along for this operation?" Lin Shuo said, "If we still take them along, I will increase the price."
"There are no scholars." Anne said, "The last operation outside Xing'an Mountains provided us with some experience. So for this operation, we streamlined our personnel, only you, me, Team Wei and Team Liu."
"Where are my brothers?" Wei Xingshan asked from the side at this time.
"They and we have other arrangements. A member of the Presbyterian Council of the International Research Association is going to Africa for scientific research and needs to be protected by people." Anne said, "Don't worry, Team Wei, the reward is pretty good."
"That's good." Wei Xingshan nodded, "Okay, I'll take this job. I just don't know what Lao Lin means."
"With his hind legs." Lin Shuo pointed to Wei Xingshan, looked at Anne, "I want to raise the price."
"Old Lin, just show some love." Wei Xingshan rolled his eyes at Lin Shuo, "If you go up again, with the stingy energy of the research club, I'm going to be a loser."
"Okay." Lin Shuo nodded, "Old price."
"Yes." Anne nodded slightly, "I don't know what Mr. Lin needs to prepare? Or should we set off right away?"
"No rush." Lin Shuo shook his head, "Your body is still in shape, you need to take care of it for two more days. I'm going to visit someone, and we'll be leaving in two days."
"OK."