The light of salvation was ahead, and Wen Lingyu and Qiu Lu embraced each other excitedly.
“This is great! Xiao Yu, we’re finally getting out! We’re finally getting out of this wretched place!”
Wen Lingyu nodded excitedly again and again.
Even Xu Zirong began making a somewhat awkward cross gesture, touching his right hand to both shoulders, forehead, and navel. He usually adamantly claimed to be a materialist and a successor to socialism. But now he was thanking God for his blessings.
Since I knew we were not far from getting out, I felt more relaxed than ever before, my smile was much lighter. Seeing that the youth still had his bamboo basket, I said, “Do you want us to give you a ride? We’re not bad people, we just genuinely want to thank you.”
The youth shook his head and said, “No need.”
I felt a strange sense of disappointment. After a moment’s thought, I mustered up the courage to say, “We seem to have quite a fate. Could you tell me your name?”
“Fate. You said that word again, it’s so strange…” The youth gave a half-smile. “My name is Shen Jianqing. ‘Jian’ as in ‘to see,’ and ‘Qing’ as in ‘Ah Qing’.”
‘Qing’ as in ‘Ah Qing’? Was ‘Ah Qing’ a person’s name? Why would someone use another person’s name to introduce their own? Or perhaps it was his beloved?
“Is it the ‘Jianqing’ from ‘I see the green mountains so charming’?”
Shen Jianqing let out a chuckle. “I don’t know, I haven’t heard that. But you outsiders speak so beautifully, it’s very interesting.” He smiled, revealing a shallow dimple.
“My name is Li Yuze.”
Shen Jianqing raised his long, thick eyebrows, seemingly neither surprised nor interested in my name.
I turned and ran to the trunk, found the few local specialties I had bought, pulled out a bag of dried meat, and ran back to hand it to Shen Jianqing.
Shen Jianqing frowned, looked at the dried meat, then at me, showing no intention of taking it.
I explained, “Consider it our thanks. You’ve been a great help.”
He shook his head, unwilling to accept it.
I said, “Then let’s just consider it as us making friends; this is my greeting gift.”
This time, Shen Jianqing’s eyes lit up, and he reached out. His fingers brushed against the back of my hand; they were very cold, causing a tingling sensation on my skin. Before I could react, he quickly withdrew his hand, simultaneously taking the dried meat.
“Li Yuze, are we going?” Qiu Lu, who was waiting, reminded me.
I nodded in response. Thinking that at the end of this Miao Village trip, I could actually know the name of the Miao youth from that accidentally captured photo, I felt that fate was truly wonderful.
“We’re leaving, goodbye.” After I spoke, Shen Jianqing didn’t respond but merely retreated to the side of the road, smiling as he watched me.
I got into the car, and the small off-road vehicle slowly drove off, heading in the direction Shen Jianqing had indicated. I glanced in the rearview mirror; Shen Jianqing was still standing in the same spot, his posture unchanged, silently watching us drive away. His figure grew smaller and smaller, becoming a tiny dark blue speck, then the car turned a corner, and he disappeared.
With the joy of escaping, the atmosphere in the car lightened considerably. They started chatting again and occasionally burst into happy laughter.
I had already decided that after returning, I would organize the photos from this trip and carefully store them. Although there were scares, fortunately, there was no danger. But isn’t it precisely these dramatic experiences that make things interesting?
I lowered my eyes to check the fuel gauge. We needed to hurry; I hoped we could get out before the car ran out of gas.
As I was thinking, a sudden change occurred!
There was a loud “bang,” followed by violent shaking of the vehicle!
“Ah!”
Qiu Lu screamed in fright, instinctively hugging Wen Lingyu.
I was also startled. The car stopped due to the sudden change and finally stalled. The car body was severely tilted, which I had already felt before getting out. A bad premonition appeared in my mind.
I pushed the door open and got out of the car, and the view became even clearer — as expected, the tire had blown.
And what was even more bizarre was that both rear tires seemed to have conspired, blowing out simultaneously. The rear tires had deflated, transforming from round to an irregular, ugly shape. This also caused the car body to tilt.
This is… how could we be so unlucky? Did we not check the almanac for this trip, or did we offend some deity?! I clutched my hair in frustration, then angrily kicked the tree trunk by the roadside.
“Did the tire blow out?” Wen Lingyu got out of the car and fell silent after seeing the rear tire.
Our happiness didn’t last long before joy turned to sorrow again. Indeed, too many ups and downs aren’t always good; sometimes, a smooth journey is a kind of blessing.
Xu Zirong groaned in pain, “What do we do? This is a rented car, and now we’ve blown out the tires. We’ll have to pay for it.”
“Still thinking about compensation? Let’s just get out of here first.” I said.
Wen Lingyu also said, “Yes, now we can only walk out. I hope the destination isn’t far, and we can reach it before dark. Once we get to town, we can find someone to tow the car.”
That was the only way.
Just in case we had to spend another night in the wilderness, we had all brought plenty of supplies. I put on my assault jacket and packed enough food for a day in my backpack, along with power banks and other tools. After some thought, I also put camping essentials in my suitcase. Finally, my gaze shifted to the camera, and I hesitated.
Although a single camera wasn’t heavy, the current situation called for carrying survival supplies. But I really couldn’t bear to leave the camera in the car, as it contained a lot of important data.
I glanced sideways and saw Wen Lingyu also silently stuffing her important research notes from Miao Village into her bag. Her profile was focused and serious, not completely panicked by the current dire situation. I suddenly felt that having someone like her as a partner for research seemed quite good.
We packed our things, and this time even Qiu Lu put on a backpack and dragged a suitcase as we set off down the road.
At first, we were all silent, pushing ourselves to reach the town quickly, our steps very fast. All around us, we could hear only our increasingly heavy breathing and footsteps.
But the road underfoot seemed endless; we walked for two hours, and it still stretched into the distant unknown. A journey without an end in sight is the most likely thing to drive people mad.
“How much longer do we have to walk? My feet hurt so much!” Qiu Lu grimaced, her eyes squinting as if tears were about to well up.
Wen Lingyu also panted, weakly saying, “Let’s rest for a bit. I really can’t go on anymore; I’m so thirsty.”
Seeing that dusk was quickly approaching, yet our destination was nowhere in sight, we might truly have to spend the night outdoors. I took out my phone; it still had half its battery, but there was no signal.
“Okay.” I nodded. Rather than continuing to walk with no end in sight, it was better to rest properly.
Fortunately, we had brought camping gear, so we quickly set up a makeshift tent on the spot.
The sky turned dim, the sun setting behind the mountains, and tired birds returning to their nests. Xu Zirong and I collected some dry branches from the roadside woods and built a campfire in front of the tent. I hadn’t noticed it in the car, but the mosquitoes were terrifyingly numerous; a moment’s inattention would result in a large bite. Strange-looking insects occasionally crawled onto the road, scaring the two girls into screaming.
But our biggest problem right now wasn’t the insects; it was water. The water we had brought was long gone. If we remained trapped here, without water, we wouldn’t last a week.
Night gradually fell, the campfire illuminating our faces. There were many stars in the sky, sprinkled like jewels, very beautiful. But at that moment, I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate such a night view, something unseen in the city.
No one spoke; only the occasional crackling of the fire, the chirping of insects in the forest, and the croaking of frogs from further away broke the silence.
Wen Lingyu mechanically poked at the campfire, occasionally adding dry branches. Qiu Lu hugged her knees, staring blankly at the flames.
After a long time, Qiu Lu suddenly fixed her gaze on the campfire, her eyes unblinking, and murmured, “Are we… are we not going to make it out?”
My breath hitched, and a hollow feeling crept into my heart.
Wen Lingyu seemed to want to comfort her: “We… we…” But in the end, she couldn’t even finish her own sentence.
A stream of tears flowed directly from Qiu Lu’s eyes. “I don’t want to die here. My parents are waiting for me to come home. I… I’m still so young…”
With that, Qiu Lu sobbed and hugged Wen Lingyu.
Xu Zirong slammed the empty can in his hand onto the ground, saying bitterly, “Could that kid have given us the wrong directions?! He didn’t know the way out at all and just pointed for us randomly. Otherwise, how could we have walked all day without seeing a single soul, and it just keeps getting more desolate?”
I said, “We have no grievances with him. Why would he mess with us?”
“How should I know? Maybe he just had nothing better to do!”
I didn’t want to think about it any further. If we turned back now, our sunk cost would be too high, and there was no guarantee we’d even get out that way.
I said, “We’ve walked so long today, let’s get some rest. Don’t dwell on these things. I’ll take the first watch; you all sleep.”
The three remained silent. Wen Lingyu and Qiu Lu crawled into the tent, and Xu Zirong shook out his sleeping bag and climbed in.
I sat by the fire, still feeling cold. Girls could cry in distress and panic and seek comfort. Boys could vent their anger and lose control of their emotions. But our entire team couldn’t all sink into negativity; that’s when we’d truly fall into the abyss.
Yet, I wasn’t an emotionless machine.
In the night, I pulled my assault jacket tighter and leaned closer to the campfire. The intense heat washed over me, but the chill seemed to seep from my bones, making my teeth almost chatter. Every second was an ordeal. Everyone’s phone battery was low, so we agreed to take turns turning them on to check the time and signal. I lit up the screen; it was not yet ten o’clock.
The signal bars were still empty.
