The wind blew through the green treetops, blew through the boy's clear eyebrows and eyes that were between youth and maturity, and blew towards the young man who came back from the future. The wind gently penetrated into his arms that were covering his eyes, and kissed the wet and hot corners of his eyes.
The man is crying and the boy is laughing.
They were facing each other, separated by a space and time, countless lives, and the hopes and despair of countless people.
"Mr. Chen, are you okay?" Chao Jian asked worriedly.
"It's okay." Chen Yang rubbed his eyes, "The sun is too strong."
"It's a bit hot in the mountains." Chao Jian took out a bottle of water from his backpack and handed it to him, "Drink some water."
Chen Yang looked at the kindness and integrity in the boy's eyes, was stunned for a moment, reached out and took the bottle of water with his body temperature: "Thank you."
When he walked past Area B of the rehabilitation center, a layer of skin was peeled off his body, and blood was dripping. But now he hid the bloody wounds where his skin was torn, and also hid his sadness and pain. He only showed the boy his tiredness.
Chen Yang unscrewed the bottle cap, tilted his head back and took a few sips of water. The sore and dry throat was relieved. In his peripheral vision, the little girl was bending over and looking down at him. Every inch of her youthful face was so clear.
"This must be an illusion." Chen Yang murmured.
Chao Jian frowned: "It's not a ghost wall?" He scratched his hair, "I thought it was a ghost wall."
Chen Yang looked at his frowning face, and the memories related to the current mission were playing in his mind without his control. Twenty people were role-playing, and in each round one person would be the "forest ranger" and the others would be "thieves".
There is no time limit for each round. The rest time is breakfast, lunch and dinner time, which are 6 am, 12 pm, 6 pm, and a one-hour break.
The order is determined by drawing lots, and the task of the "forest ranger" will start with a black rope appearing around his neck and end with it disappearing. The next one will follow the same steps.
The "thief" cannot be caught by the "forest ranger". If caught, he will be skinned and hung on a tree by a fierce ghost, who is a former forest ranger.
This is the first round.
The first "forest ranger" was a new tasker. She closed her eyes and counted while crying. After counting to dozens, she started to arrest people. All the remaining taskers were scattered in the forest.
Back then, he acted separately from Xiang Zimu and Sun Wenjun, and he met Chao Jian.
Chao Jian took the initiative to walk towards him and talk to him.
The above are the rules for him to see. I don’t know if there is any adulteration. He is sick now and is not normal. Even if it is really placed in front of him, he will be suspicious.
This disease cannot be cured, and there is still a long way to go.
"It's a ghost wall." Chen Yang put down the mineral water bottle, lowered his eyes and closed the lid.
Chao Jian asked: "What should we do then?"
Chen Yang was distracted for a moment. These words were too familiar. He said them often.
"As for the ghost wall..." Chao Jian kicked the stone at his feet, "The Taoist method is to bite the index finger and shoot out a blood drop in front of you. I tried it and it didn't work."
Chen Yang twitched his lips: "What else did you try?"
Chao Jian's eyes were a little evasive, and a suspicious blush appeared on his face.
Chen Yang couldn't think of what great thing Chao Jian had done, so he gave him an encouraging look.
Chao Jian pinched the back of his neck and tilted his head. After a long while, he moved the corners of his lips and said, "Go pee, and keep going in that direction."
“…” Chen Yang held his forehead.
"Mr. Chen, am I the dumbest newcomer you have ever met?" Chao Jian lowered his black head and said sullenly.
"There is no dumbest newcomer, only dumber ones. You are not in that group. It is good that you are willing to use your brain and dare to try." Chen Yang thought about it and couldn't help but say a compliment, "You have a wide range of knowledge."
"I'm usually bored, so I'll browse some unpopular forums." Chao Jian curled his lips, "I bound my ID number to come here, and I thought the things I read would be useful, but it turns out that they are not."
"The two worlds operate under different rules. Some things cannot be used interchangeably, especially when it comes to exorcising ghosts." Chen Yang's keen perception allowed him to instinctively focus his mind. "There is a corpse nearby."
He raised his eyes sharply towards Jian.
Chen Yang looked towards a place: "The smell of blood is coming from that direction." He grabbed the mineral water and strode into the dense thorns, "Follow me."
There was no movement behind him. Chen Yang turned around and found that his little object was standing there in a daze. In his pupils there was his weathered and tearful figure, and a bright sunlight.
"Xiao Chao, follow me!" Chen Yang laughed hoarsely.
Chao Jian strode towards Chen Yang.
The body was that of a beautiful young girl, a first-round “forest ranger”, now dead, lying in the bushes with her head shattered.
Chao Jian said in a deep voice: "It's man-made."
Chen Yang looked at the corpse under his eyes: "Really?"
"Well, if it was a ghost who killed her, she would have been skinned alive, not this way." Chao Jian confirmed, "And ghosts don't kill 'forest rangers', they only kill 'thieves'."
"No more?" Chen Yang glanced at the young man standing a few steps away from the corpse.
Chao Jian looked a little embarrassed: "I can't see anything else."
Chen Yang wanted to tell him the answer directly, but the words that came out of his mouth were: "That's because you are not standing close enough. Come here."
Chao Jian hesitated.
Chen Yang looked at him: "Are you scared?"
Before Chao Jian nodded, he heard Chen Yang say, "Even if you are afraid, you have to investigate. Most of the time you can only rely on yourself here." When Chen Yang said this, he didn't react himself.
"...Oh." Chao Jian took out a small knife from his black pants pocket, rubbed out the blade, held the knife close to the corpse's head, and carefully examined it. "The edge of the broken wound is a little strange."
"Those are the marks left by crazy sucking." Chen Yang said shockingly.
Chao Jian was stunned.
Chen Yang's eyes fell on his cold and pale face: "Have you ever eaten jelly? Tofu brain?"
His Adam's apple rolled towards the collar of the simple white T-shirt.
Chen Yang walked over to Chao Jian and squatted down, casually turning the bloody head of the corpse: "Someone smashed the corpse's head and ran away, and then something came over and sucked away the brain matter that burst out."
Chao Jian looked at Chen Yang.
Chen Yang laughed unconsciously: "Why are you looking at me? There is no answer in my eyes."
She wiped the sweat off the tip of her nose and gave him an awkward and innocent smile, with a hint of admiration that was barely noticeable.
Chen Yang's mouth corners pressed down.
"Don't search blindly, observe first." Chen Yang looked at Chao Jian moving the bushes around the corpse and blurted out, "The more common things are, the more surprises they can bring us."
The person who spoke was stunned.
The obedient man's eyes were dark and bright, without any sinisterness or mania: "I understand."
Chen Yang lowered his eyes: "Yeah."
I used to be the one holding his hand, and later he held my hand. Everything he taught me was what I had taught him.
Isn't this something I've known for a long time? I've known it for a long time, so why is there such a big reaction? Chen Yang listened to the thumping sound in his chest and felt dizzy for a short time.
Chao Jian discovered bloodstains on several dead leaves. He found a pit based on the bloodstains and saw bloodstones inside. There were also messy shoe prints around them and a small piece of rag hanging on a tree branch.
The cloth was pulled down by Chao Jian, who took a closer look at it.
"The cloth is very old. If it was left by someone who came here many years ago, there would be traces of wind and sun. I can rub it to pieces with a little force. This one is not torn, so it is obviously just left here. But no one in the team wears such old cloth. This person is not one of us." Chao Jian's face was solemn.
"Yeah." Chen Yang nodded. In this cat-and-mouse game, in addition to the pretend rangers, thieves, and ghost rangers, there was another thing mixed in. It was a monster that would smash people's heads with stones and then suck out the brains.
"Go!" Chen Yang's face suddenly changed.
Chao Jian's reaction was quick, but not as fast as Chen Yang's. When Chen Yang said that, the alarm in his body did not sound.
Chen Yang grabbed Chao Jian and ran. Chao Jian was much taller than him, and he couldn't straighten his back when he pulled him.
Chao Jian said nothing and let Chen Yang grab him. The two of them hid in a... coffin together.
The coffin was half embedded in the mountain and half exposed outside the mountain. There was no rotten smell from the corpse inside. Chen Yang was kneeling inside, one hand still tightly holding Chao Jian.
Chen Yang counted to 4 silently in his mind, and a figure appeared. It was a man. He was walking and searching for something, with a black rope dragging behind his neck.
The "ranger" of the first round died, and the second round began.
Men are the "rangers" of the second round.
Chen Yang took a short breath. The order of the twenty people was determined by drawing lots. Sun Wenjun was the eleventh, Xiang Zimu was the thirteenth, he was the nineteenth, and Chao Jian was the eighteenth, ahead of him.
Chen Yang suppressed his chaotic thoughts and stared at the "forest ranger" who was still not far away. The other person turned around and showed a face with a thick beard.
At that moment, Chen Yang's scalp went numb. The "forest ranger" was the uncle he met on the bus last year who had been staring at him!
It turns out that the uncle is my teammate, a former teammate. Chen Yang had a feeling that it was as he expected. He suddenly opened his half-closed eyes and saw the other party walking towards the coffin!
Chen Yang held his breath, and the next moment his eyelids twitched suddenly. He turned his head in disbelief to look at the person next to him.
The arm he was holding wanted to be pulled away, but he retracted his force and grabbed it.
Chao Jian wanted to use himself to lure away the forest rangers outside, but if he did so, he would surely die.
Chen Yang answered him with the strength of his fingers, No!
Chao Jian didn't dare to struggle hard and could only endure and suppress his breathing, watching the ranger approach the coffin.
"Since we are all going to die, it is better for one of us to live." Chao Jian said in a low voice.
Chen Yang did not respond. He just held Chao Jian with all his strength and held his breath. His heartbeat slowed down gradually until it died down.
Chao Jian was very smart. He noticed the changes in Chen Yang, so he followed suit and began to control his heartbeat and breathing.
There seemed to be no breath of life in the coffin.
The "forest ranger" walked to the coffin, half squatted and looked inside. The coffin was very dark and lifeless.
“No…” He was not in a good mood, muttered to himself and turned around.
Chen Yang, who was protecting Chao Jian, heard the uncle's heavy breathing. He seemed to have discovered something and suddenly ran towards the nine o'clock direction.
Then, a terrified scream came from that direction, mixed with an old voice that did not belong to the uncle: "I got you."
The wind blew into the coffin, carrying with it a pungent smell of blood.
The captured "thief" tasker had his skin removed and was hanging under a fir tree in a bloody mess.
Chen Yang supported Chao Jian's shoulders with a frown on his face. The ghost wall was like a pigsty, and they were the pigs trapped inside. If they couldn't get out, they would be caught and killed one by one.
"How do we break through this ghost wall?" Chao Jian also thought of this.
"Don't panic." Chen Yang said in a low voice, "I'll take you out later."
Chao Jian didn't say anything. After a while, he spoke: "Mr. Chen, can you get up?"
Chen Yang: “Hmm?”
"Did I crush you? I'm not heavy..." Chen Yang got up before he finished speaking, "Let's go!"
After a while, Chen Yang led Chao Jian out of the ghost wall. He leaned against a big tree and gasped for breath. He walked towards the finish line step by step. Every step he took was a torture. He didn't know how much time had passed since the end of the review task. He was too exhausted.
Chao Jian was thanking him. If it were someone else, Chen Yang would just wave his hand perfunctorily...
“Even if I didn’t help you, I would still want to save my own life.” Chen Yang smiled and comforted the young man who regarded him as his savior.
When Chao Jian saw him laugh, he laughed too, feeling a little silly.
Chen Yang suddenly said: "Run forward."
The smile on Chao Jian's face disappeared instantly: "Come again?"
"No," Chen Yang said, "you run first." He added, "Just run for a distance." There was bitter expectation in this supplement.
I forgot what you look like when you run. I was so busy escaping that I didn't pay attention. Now I want to see.
Chao Jian didn't understand, but he still ran for a while, stopped and looked back at Chen Yang, which meant to say, is that enough? No, I can't run anymore.
Chen Yang closed his eyes and waved to him.
The boy ran back, the sunlight shone on his soft black hair and smooth shoulders. The wind blew up his hair in front of his forehead, revealing his full forehead and deep brow bones.
He ran to Chen Yang clean and bright.
"Mr. Chen, your mouth is bleeding." Chao Jian said in surprise.
"It's okay." Chen Yang licked the blood off the wound on his lower lip and said nonchalantly, "It's dry." When he wanted to drink some water, he found that the water was thrown into the coffin.
Chao Jian took off his backpack and put it back on. He looked around and said, "Wait for me."
Chen Yang stood in the weeds, watching the familiar figure getting farther and farther away from him. He blinked his dry eyes, and a suppressed sob escaped from his throat.
After a while, Chao Jian brought back a handful of wild fruits: "The water is gone, I picked these fruits, they are all non-toxic." Finally, he said, "I know some knowledge of survival in the wild, I won't make a mistake."
Chen Yang stretched out his hand, and the boy leaned aside holding the wild fruit.
"The red ones are astringent, don't eat them, eat the yellow ones, they are sweet." Chao Jian said seriously, "I have wiped them, you can eat them directly."
"Is that so?" Chen Yang took a small yellow fruit and put it in his mouth. The sweet juice spread between his lips and teeth. He smiled and said, "It's very sweet."
Chao Jian started to eat the red fruit.
Chen Yang looked up at the blue sky. Who liked who first
At twelve o'clock noon, the game was suspended.
The fourteen people who were still alive gathered together, each of them was soaked and their faces were pale.
Chen Yang walked over to his two old partners and suppressed his surging emotions: "Zi Mu, Brother Xiao Wen."
They at this station would not know what kind of environment he had just come out of.
Sun Wenjun looked Chen Yang up and down, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he had no skin injuries: "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Chen Yang asked, "How about you guys?"
"Where I'm hiding is relatively safe, no 'forest ranger' will pass by." Xiang Zimu said proudly, "Would you like to follow me this afternoon?"
"If you hide alone, you will be easily exposed when there are too many people around," said Sun Wenjun.
Xiang Zimu shrugged: "Okay."
Chen Yang gave them small fruits.
"It's so sweet, where does it come from?" Xiang Zimu asked while eating the fruit, his slightly dirty face full of joy of eating something delicious.
Chen Yang said: "A newcomer gave it to me."
"That one, Chao Jian." He introduced his future girlfriend to his partners.
Xiang Zimu looked in the direction Chen Yang pointed, and spoke sharply and concisely: "Tall, fair, and handsome."
Chen Yang frowned. Xiang Zimu had a good first impression of Chao Jian.
After swallowing the fruit in his mouth, Chen Yang told the story of Chao Jian analyzing the corpse and his ability to respond quickly.
Sun Wenjun pushed up his glasses and said, "As a newcomer, I have potential."
Xiang Zimu said: "She just looks too ostentatious."
"The appearance is given by parents," Sun Wenjun glanced at the boy who was surrounded by several opposite sex gazes, "but it is true that he can't keep a low profile."
Chen Yang licked his lips. At this moment, Chao Jian had nothing to do with violent and dangerous elements. His soul was healthy and not sick, so he was easy to approach.
Sun Wenjun lowered his voice and said, "Xiao Yangyang, are you interested in that new kid? Do you want to take him with you?"
Xiang Zimu looked over immediately and said carefully, "Let him join us? Is he capable enough? He will only hinder others and ourselves."
"I don't have that plan at the moment. It depends on the opportunity." Chen Yang heard his own voice say.
Chen Yang pulled a handful of weeds and his palm felt a little painful. Chao Jian was right. When they first worked together, he did not let Chao Jian be his partner.
After everyone had filled their stomachs, they started to talk. Among the six dead taskers, four were "forest rangers" and two were "thieves."
The latter died at the hands of a ghost, and the former had his skull smashed and his brain sucked out by an unknown creature.
When compared, each is terrifying in its own way.
The last "forest ranger" boy in the morning woke up from a dehydrated coma and revealed his experience of escaping death. He said that when he was looking for the "thief", he felt a pair of eyes staring at him from behind. Fortunately, his intuition was strong enough to avoid the attack of the savage, otherwise his brain would have exploded long ago.
Chao Jian took out the worn piece of cloth and asked if the savage was wearing clothes of this color.
The boy's eyes widened: "Yes, that's it... That's it!"
"The cloth looks familiar. I seem to have seen it somewhere." Xiang Zimu looked at the scraps of cloth in her hand and muttered. Before Sun Wenjun asked her to think carefully, she shouted, "Thief!"
"The person wearing this clothes is one of the thieves who killed the forest ranger that year!" Xiang Zimu quickly took out her mobile phone and turned to a photo she had taken.
There is a torn piece of newspaper on the top of the photo and a color picture in the lower left corner.
The picture shows a group photo of three people. The one standing in the middle is a very tall and thin man with a fierce face. The fabric of the clothes on his upper body is exactly the same as the one Chao Jian took.
The boy trembled and pointed at the man in the middle of the photo: "It's him, it's him, it's him..."
Everyone was shocked that not all the thieves were dead and one was still alive!
He threw the rag at Jian: "It seems that this mission is for the "forest ranger" to catch the "thief", and the thief to hunt the "forest ranger."
Some of the taskers did not understand, so Chao Jian explained to them: "The wild thieves have become monsters hiding in the mountains. They hate the forest rangers and will kill them."
"That ranger died a long time ago. He has become a ghost."
"We are still here, right? We are the new 'forest rangers'."
There was dead silence all around.
"Every wrong has its perpetrator, why doesn't the evil ghost skin the monster?" One of the task recipients couldn't bear it and cried out.
"Ghosts have their own rules." Sun Wenjun's voice was elegant and gentle. "You can treat this as a game. Everything here is a copy."
"So, whether you are a ranger or a thief, it is dangerous."
As Sun Wenjun finished speaking, several more people in the team fell to the edge of the cliff and staggered.
An hour of rest time is too short to even be in a daze. Chen Yang belongs to this task and does not belong to this task. The psychological and spiritual damage he has suffered is different from that of others.
Chen Yang was sitting on a rock. In his field of vision he saw Chao Jian talking to his teammates. He didn't know what the other party said, but he smiled.
"Click"
Chen Yang took a bite of the small fruit. Chao Jian used to have eyes not only for him. This made him feel subtly uncomfortable and confused, and also sad.
Chao Jian's world used to be very big, filled with friendships and comradery, but later it shrank to a size that could only accommodate him.
Friendship, comradeship, love, and family affection are all him.