??

  It was that man, surnamed Qian from Sichuan, who crawled out alone and was also on the verge of collapse. A woman and two men lay on the ground for a full five minutes. After a while, the man with the surname Qian seemed to remember something he hadnt done, struggled to get up again, and searched around with great difficulty, finally fixing his gaze on the stones that I and Cha Wenbin had brought over.

  I watched as the man struggled to move the stone, his strength was almost exhausted.

  "He seems to want to seal up that hole."

  "Then you dont care about anyone elses life or death?"

  "It cant be helped, this kind of thing is common. Whoever does this line of work isnt holding their head in their hands, normally theyre calling you brother and friend, but when something really happens, theyre all stepping on your head to climb up, if you make it out alive, thats just good luck, if you end up inside, thats just bad luck, right Xiao Yi?"

  Fatso said that and I remembered what happened in Xian. It was terrifying, these tomb raiders dont care about human lives at all.

  "Take them away, tie them up and send them to the government tomorrow. People like this should be arrested and paraded!"

  Fatso disagreed with my idea, saying: "Lets just forget about sending them away. Were not clean ourselves. Lets leave a way out for the future and meet again. They havent even apologized to us yet, no need to go all out."

  "What shall we do?" I asked.

  "Mind your own business." Zha Wenbin asked Pangzi, "Can you be sure theyve encountered the zongzi?"

  "Its almost ten, if it werent for this, there would be several more lives lost below."

  "Know where to send the woman first, lets go and ask clearly."

  Cha Wenbin walked straight towards that direction, the person with the surname Qian was about to move the stone, Cha Wenbin bent down and whispered in his ear: "Want help?"

  The man was so focused on his own affairs that he was startled by Wen Bins sudden move, and his hand went soft. The big stone fell heavily on the back of his foot, and his body arched and could no longer support itself before falling to the ground.

  Two women were basically in a state of coma, with multiple damages on their clothes. The man was also on the verge of collapse. Seeing us, he weakly begged: "Please help, block it up..."

  The fatty slapped the back of that persons head, and that person couldnt take it anymore and fell to the ground. The fatty pointed at the hole and scolded: "Youre not a good leader either! Those who fell in are also people you brought out, arent they? Their parents raised them big and let you train them, how can you be so irresponsible?! Arent you a leader from Beijing? You dont even have the demeanor of a leader!"

  That person didnt refute the fatty, but instead looked at Cha Wenbin and continued to plead: "Please hurry up, you guys, its too late..." At this time, I heard another gunshot. The man grabbed Cha Wenbins pants leg in one hand and cried out: "Its too late, hurry up! That thing cant be touched!"

  Zha Wenbin lowered his head and glanced into the hole, but it was pitch black and nothing could be seen. He lightly used his sword to cut a small opening on his middle finger and squeezed two drops of blood into the hole. After a while, I saw him frown and, without explaining much to us, ordered in a commanding tone: "Hurry up and seal the entrance, Fatso and Xiaoyi! Take these people back with you too. Once were inside the village, dont make any noise for now. If things go wrong, more lives will be lost."

  After blocking the entrance with a few large stones, these three people, one by one, fortunately, in those years also worked in rural labor, but when they were taken to the village, it was already almost dawn. Because of fear of being known, they could only be taken to the village office, but the three people were basically in a state of coma, estimated to have lost too much blood, especially one of the women had three small thumb-sized blood holes on her shoulder, and the wounds had already started to turn black.

  To rescue the people, we first went to find Miao Lao Die and told him that these few people were discovered while hunting, and it was estimated that they had encountered some fierce beasts. As soon as Miao Lao Die heard this, he immediately wanted to go out and report it, but I quickly stopped him: "We cant report it yet, we dont know whats going on, lets rescue the people first. What if it gets out of hand and people say we didnt protect the leaders well? Besides, there are still a few people missing, if it really gets big, you as the village head will get into trouble."

  Lao Miao is an old revolutionary, and in this life, nothing matters more to him than his integrity and reputation. He too became anxious: "Then what do you say we should do?"

  "I deliberately pointed in the opposite direction: First, lets get someone to search the mountain. The three people found on the south slope of the mountain, and five more are still missing. The fewer people who know about this, the better. If it gets out, well be in big trouble."

  "Alright, Ill let my son-in-law go with me to Qing Shan."

  There was a barefoot doctor in the village, and after Miao Lao Die found him for us, he went to Nanpo with Qing Shan first. This barefoot doctor used to work as a veterinarian outside, anyway, he knew how to give injections, so when he came back, he learned by himself and became the only Western-style doctor in the village at that time.

  The old man put on a pair of glasses and examined them one by one, saying: "Its nothing serious, just a superficial wound. Apply some ointment and bandage it up."

  However, the best medicine at that time was penicillin. The doctor was quite bold and opened a bottle of penicillin, pouring the powder directly into the girls wound. I watched as she woke up from her coma in agony, only to fall back into unconsciousness again.

  The fatty looked at the girl who was unconscious and her lips were trembling in pain, so he reminded: "Really nothing?"

  "Its okay, dont worry about it, just let them sleep, theyll be fine after a good rest." Then he stretched out his hand towards the two of us and said: "The medical expenses plus the consultation fee is 70 yuan, who will pay?"

  "How can it be so expensive?" 70 yuan, at that time, a persons monthly salary was only about 30 yuan, and most people in this village could save only four or five big notes of renminbi per year. He asked for 70 yuan as soon as he opened his mouth, which was obviously extortion.

  The doctor revealed a mouthful of black teeth, and I saw that one of them was even gold. He said, "Not expensive, right? Three lives are at stake."

  The fatty, tired from a nights work and also somewhat irritated, suddenly stood up and scolded: "Youre asking for 70 yuan just for these few bottles of penicillin and some gauze? Believe it or not, tomorrow Ill set your house on fire!"

  The doctors next words were completely beyond our expectations. He smiled and said, "Alright, Ill be straightforward with you. This woman wasnt injured by a wild animal. You guys mentioned South Mountain earlier, but I personally saw you heading to West Mountain last night. And this man has the stench of death on him. Whats going on? You folks shouldnt be unaware that its a time of strict crackdown."

  I took another step forward and said, "What does the severe crackdown have to do with us?"

  "If these people cant wake up, then its hard to say whether there will be any consequences or not."

  Ive heard it so much that my nose is about to get crooked, how can there still be such people? Just as I was about to lose my temper, Cha Wenbin stood up and said: "Doctor Niu, just now you said she wasnt injured by a wild animal, then what do you say she was injured by?"

  That doctor was quite interesting and instead looked at Zha Wenbin with a smile: "Hehe, the thing below has long fingernails and hair."

  Cha Wenbin retorted: "If you knew that, then can this medicine save her?"

  "It cant be saved, so Im asking you for 70 yuan, and if you give it, there will naturally be a way to save it."

  This answer was unexpected by Zha Wenbin, as since ancient times, very few people in the north have studied this kind of thing. He asked somewhat incredulously: "You can analyze corpse poison?"

  The doctor didnt show any modesty: "Having learned one or two tricks, this poison really needs me to solve it."

  "As long as you can solve it, well pay 70 bucks." Zha Wenbin tugged at my clothes and whispered, "Do you have money?"

  "Take it." I reluctantly pulled out a thick stack of cash from my pocket, which I had saved for a long time and didnt want to spend. I unwillingly counted out seven bills and handed them over, giving the three people on the ground a fierce glare, thinking that when they woke up, they would at least have to triple this amount.

  "Wait a bit, come back in half an hour, and dont give them water." The doctor left with his head down, counting the money, looking pleased.

  "Are you kidding me? Are you still looking for him?" I asked Cha Wenbin.

  Unexpectedly, he shook his head and said: "I cant cure this. My master might be able to, but the poisoning has gone too deep. If he can save him, thats a feat."

  "Is it really a zombie?" Fatso asked.

  "Look at the wound on her outside, isnt that right?" Cha Wenbin pointed to the wound on the womans shoulder and said: "Pay attention, there are still a few stuck on the wound."

  I bowed my head and took a closer look, and indeed there were several fine red fluff at the blackened wound, similar to the fluff on clothes, also somewhat like animal hair.

  "Thats a zombie, its a Dou Shi, only the wounds inflicted by a Dou Shi will leave hair intact, this thing is rarely seen in a hundred years." Zha Wenbin hesitated for a moment, then said: "I may not have a good way to deal with it."