Chapter 252: First Night: Heavy Fog

In that case, we simply couldn't move forward anymore. Relying on the compass, we persisted through the forest for another twenty minutes, and though Panzi was anxious and furious, he didn't dare go any further.

Although we could keep our direction correct, we couldn't travel in a straight line through the forest, and now the visibility was even lower; it was very likely we could pass by Third Uncle's camp without noticing, or even be walking in an S-shaped path the whole time.

On top of that, after visibility dropped, traveling through this kind of rainforest consumed an enormous amount of energy, reaching a level unbearable for anyone; we couldn't walk more than a few meters without having to stop to catch our breath, and the grayness all around us was extremely unsettling.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, until we stopped and visibility dropped almost to zero; beyond one meter away, you could only see a dark silhouette. Under the canopy it was already absurdly dark, and now it was like pitch black; we had no choice but to turn on our mining lamps for light, feeling as if we were not in the jungle but in a cave full of trees.

Panzi said that reaching Third Uncle's location according to the original plan was no longer possible; for now we had to first find a safe place to rest temporarily, and wait until the fog cleared a bit before moving on. Generally speaking, this type of fog would gradually dissipate after nightfall. It came quickly and went just as quickly.

Panzi had jungle experience and spoke in a tone that brooked no argument. I was truly relieved, feeling as if I had returned from the jaws of death. Had we continued walking, I might have died from overexertion, worked to death alive.

We found a withered, rotten tree that had fallen in the mud; when this huge tree fell, it had crushed the nearby trees, leaving a little more space around it. We rested on top of it. At first Panzi said we couldn't light a fire, but in the end we were so uncomfortable all over that we couldn't stand it anymore, so we gathered some dry branches and withered vines from nearby, poured some oil on them, and made a campfire.

These dry branches and withered vines were supposed to be tinder, but they were actually all wet; at first they produced black smoke, and only after they were dried by the heat did the fire blaze up. Fatty, not missing the opportunity, set more withered vines aside to toast, and as soon as each one was dry, he tossed it into the fire.

We were truly too exhausted; even Fatty, who could never stay idle, fell silent. Each of us rested.

I took off my shoes and found that my socks were completely worn through, like a mesh bag, and the soles of my feet were covered in blisters. Ever since I came back from the Changbai Mountains, the soles of my feet had developed a thick layer of calluses, and I had thought I would never get blisters again. I never expected that on this road, there is no hardest path—only harder ones.

Massaging the muscles of my soles and calves, Panzi recalled the route we had just taken, saying that we couldn't see the smoke at night, and by morning it would certainly have gone out; we could still roughly determine our position now and needed to make markers. Fatty redistributed the gear, moving things from my backpack into theirs.

I felt a bit embarrassed, but at this moment I couldn't worry about saving face; my physical strength really couldn't keep up anymore. Fatty told me to sleep for a while, saying that if you rest while all tensed up, the more you rest the more tired you get. I didn't want to be stubborn, so I closed my eyes.

However, by then I was overtired, and the environment around us made it very hard to calm down. I dozed for a few minutes, groggy but unable to fall asleep, so I just rested with my eyes closed.

Just as I started to feel sleepy, I heard Fatty quietly ask Panzi, "Dapan, tell me honestly, if we get to that place and your Third Master isn't there, what are you planning to do?"

Panzi said, "I want to see him alive, or see his corpse if he's dead. Of course I'm going to look for him. Why are you mulling over that?"

Fatty said, "I came here to get rich, not to wipe your Third Master's ass. Your Third Master didn't act according to plan and screwed things up. When Little Wu was awake, I took care of his feelings and didn't say anything, but now I have to speak up. Let me lay it out bluntly: if your Third Master is gone, I'll take my share of the gear and go off on my own business. This forest is huge—I'm not going to follow you to look for them."

Panzi sneered, "Split up? This forest is eerily strange; we haven't encountered any trouble yet, but if you do run into something, can you handle it alone? Besides, there are hundreds of kilometers of the Gobi Desert outside. Even if you find something and get out alive, can you cross the Gobi by yourself?"

Fatty laughed once, didn't reply directly, and said, "You know who your Fatty is? I've got my own plans for all this. I'm just telling you in advance, so don't you worry." However, from his tone, he seemed very confident about this matter.

Panzi shook his head and sighed. "I won't force you on this. Once you get the gear, you can leave if you want. But don't expect us to come rescue you if you run into trouble, and don't expect a share of whatever we find."

"You think you can scare me? Go ask around—I'm the master of scaring people," Fatty said. "I've figured it out long ago. Your Third Master came in here this time not to find antiques at all. To get the good stuff, I have to work alone, just like that young fellow—pull a disappearing act. The last two times, that young fellow shook us off; who knows, maybe he's grabbed a fat haul and we don't even know it."

I couldn't help but laugh at that, thinking to myself that this I could be sure of: Poker-face had shaken us off not for the money.

When Fatty saw I wasn't asleep, he stopped talking and just said, "Adults talking—what are you kids listening for? Shoo, shoo, go back to sleep."

In my heart, I felt that Fatty knew I was pretending to sleep, and his words had a hidden meaning; he was probably saying it for me to hear, but I didn't know what he meant. It seemed like he was reminding me about Poker-face disappearing every time. Had he noticed something and wanted to talk to me alone? But in this situation, I couldn't avoid Panzi, so I just didn't show any reaction and waited for an opportunity. Besides, I was too exhausted to think about these complicated matters.

After that, we all fell into silence again. I leaned against a nearby branch, gradually calmed down, and fell into a dead sleep, not even knowing how I fell asleep.

During that time, I must have had some dreams, but I was so deeply asleep that the dreams were all vague. I don't know how long I slept, but I woke up and found that the fog around us had thinned a lot. I checked my watch—I had only slept for less than three hours.

I had slept quite well and my energy immediately recovered a lot, but my body ached as if rusted; it seemed even worse than before. I had also once thought that I would never have such muscle soreness again, but I never expected that it would still be unavoidable.

I moved around a bit to loosen up my muscles and joints, feeling much better, and then I saw Fatty sitting there, looking up at a tree. Panzi was nowhere to be seen around us.

I was puzzled and asked him, "Where's Panzi?"

Fatty immediately made a gesture for me not to speak and pointed up at the tree.

I pushed on my waist, enduring the soreness all over my body as I stood up, walked over to him, and looked up. Through the fog I could now see the blurry outline of the moon, and it seemed there was someone in the tree; Panzi appeared to have climbed up there.

I asked what was going on, saying that this guy was now imitating a monkey, liking to rest in trees. Fatty said softly, "There was some movement just now; he climbed up to take a look."

Before he finished speaking, a "Shh!" came from the tree, telling us not to talk.

We quickly held our breath, watching him, and after waiting a while longer, we saw Panzi making gestures for us to come up the tree immediately.