When the sky was completely bright, I stamped out the last wisp of smoke. The machete is tucked away at your waist, and the weight within reach is reassuring.
Walking upstream along the stream, the dew wet his trousers. The deeper you go, the denser the trees become, and the canopy of trees almost blocks the sky. Everything here feels strange.
There are layers of lavender moss growing on the rocks beside the stream, and thick sap will ooze out when touched lightly by fingers. One bush bears red berries that resemble raspberries, but are speckled with gold. I carefully avoided it - in this completely unfamiliar mountain forest, caution is the only rule for survival.
Several flying insects flew across the water, their wings glowing with an unnatural metallic sheen. They stopped on a fern that was half a man tall. The fern leaves were slowly curling at a speed visible to the naked eye.
I squatted down and found that the soil was unusually dark in color, with a faint smell of sulfur. Pushing aside the leaf litter, white hyphae growing interlacedly are exposed underneath, like a huge underground network.
As I continued to move forward, I deliberately left notches on the tree trunks at different heights. But less than a hundred meters away, I found similar knife marks on the bark of a fir tree - they were clearly made by me half an hour ago.
Suddenly there was a tingling sensation in the palm of my hand. He raised his hand and saw several transparent blisters emerging from the tiger's mouth, as if it had been exposed to some irritant. But I was clearly wearing gloves.
When I took out the kettle, I was stunned for a moment. The face reflected on the metal surface of the pot body has an abnormal light golden color in the eyes. Blinking hard and looking again, the strange color disappeared again.
The midday sun barely penetrates the gaps between the leaves, casting dappled light spots on the humus-covered ground. I rested against an unknown giant tree. The naturally formed lines on the trunk looked like countless eyes.
Taked out a notebook and wanted to record the location, but the pen tip stopped in mid-air. There is no reference point that I am familiar with here, and even the position of the sun seems ambiguous.
I pushed aside the bushes in front of me, and my breath suddenly stopped.
A wild ginseng plant with four leaves stood quietly among the pile of rotten leaves. Its palm-shaped compound leaves spread out in the morning light, and the red fruit at the top was so bright that it was eye-catching.
"Damn, what are you thinking about!" I cursed at the deserted forest.
I pushed aside a clump of dark blue moss I had never seen before, and suddenly stopped.
There is a strange plant growing in the rock crevice in front. Fluorescent green sap flows in the translucent stems. The edges of the leaves are finely serrated, and there are a few pearly white berries on the top.
"This thing..." I knelt down and looked at it carefully, "it would be good to take it back to Huang Li for study.
Thinking of the last time my arm was burned by an unknown plant, I smacked my lips. He took out the deerskin gloves from his backpack and put them on, tightening the wristbands skillfully.
Don’t encounter any poison again. ” I said to myself, carefully avoiding those jagged leaves.
When taking out the specimen bag, I deliberately chose the thicker one and lined it with moisture-proof paper on the inner layer.
I pushed aside the vines hanging in front of my eyes, and the soles of my boots made a slight sound as they stepped on the thick humus. Now that we've come this far, it would be a big loss to go back empty-handed.
"Tsk, Huang Li must like this." I squatted down and carefully pried up a clump of moss with a metallic luster with a dagger. This thing grows on the back of the rock, and the leaf tips will curl slightly on their own.
After walking a hundred steps forward, I found several dark red mushrooms that I had never seen before. The lines on the cap are pulsing slightly like blood vessels, which makes people feel scared. I hesitated for a moment and picked two small ones. "In case of poison... wear gloves anyway."
The side pockets of the backpack gradually bulged. One time when I was bending down, I suddenly heard tiny sounds coming from the trees on the right. I tightened my grip on the machete and waited with bated breath for a long time, but all I saw was a squirrel-like creature with unusually purple fur running past.
"Is there really any treasure..." I muttered, my eyes scanning the twisted tree shadows. As soon as this idea came up, I laughed first. The old saying that greed leads to death in Shuangyang Mountain is not for nothing.
The last thing I picked up was a black stone that generates heat. I held it in my palm like a hand warmer. I stuffed it into a pile with other miscellaneous harvests, and the zipper almost couldn't close.
Looked up at the sky, the light in the forest began to turn yellow. I weighed my heavy backpack and finally turned around and walked back. These messy things may not be worth anything, but at least...this trip was not in vain.
I pushed aside the hanging vines, and a dark cave was revealed under the rock wall. The entrance to the cave is about half a person's height, the edges are covered with moss, and it's pitch black when you look inside.
“It’s a ready-made shelter.” I weighed my backpack and glanced at the darkening sky. But the cave was unusually quiet, and even the chirping of insects was cut off three feet away from the cave entrance.
Picked up a stone and weighed it in his hand: "Hey! Borrow me a place to stay?" The stone flew away into the darkness and rolled three times - suddenly there was a soft "click" sound, as if it had hit something hollow.
I immediately leaned sideways against the rock wall, the machete already lying in front of me. There was a subtle friction sound coming from the depths of the cave, like fingernails scraping against the stone wall. After waiting for a long time, there was no sound, only the stone lying quietly five steps away in the cave.
I turned on the strong flashlight. The moment the beam pierced the darkness, there was a buzzing sound on the top of the cave - it was a bat. After they dispersed, I slowly swept the light beam deeper into the cave.
Where is this ordinary cave? A huge cave suddenly opened in front of us, with a high-hanging dome and countless stalactites hanging down like upside-down forest trees. The flashlight light passed by, and the stone pillars reflected a moist glimmer. The air was filled with the smell of earth and some kind of mineral, and the sound of dripping water could be vaguely heard from deep inside.
"What a unique cave..." I murmured to myself, and my voice caused a slight echo in the empty cave. The beam moved to the ground and found some scattered, severely weathered animal bones, which had been lying dormant here for an unknown number of years.
The cave walls are not completely natural, and some areas show vague, axe-like traces. I took a closer look and even discovered some indecipherable, faded carvings with clumsy lines that did not look like those made by modern people.
I held the machete tightly and carefully took a few steps inward. The flashlight beam seemed a bit weak in the huge space and could only illuminate a limited range. In this deep darkness, there seemed to be countless pairs of eyes hidden, quietly watching me, this uninvited guest.
I stopped and listened. Apart from my own rapid breathing and heartbeat, there was only the regular sound of water drops from unknown sources, which seemed to set an eternal beat for this dead silence. It seems that tonight’s camp needs to be carefully chosen near the entrance of the cave.