Chapter 261: Second Night: Reunion

I thought it was Wenjin who had followed us into the camp. I picked up a stone and went in to block her, but I found that the one entering the camp was actually Poker-face, covered in mud.

His appearance stunned me: he was covered in mud from head to toe, even his hair. The wounds on his shoulders were all caked with mud, and I had no idea if they would get infected, but at least I didn't see any new injuries. He must have had a better night than we did.

I couldn't describe how I felt at that moment; I just stood frozen. When he turned around, I snapped out of it, put down the stone, and explained, "I thought you were… you know…"

He ignored me and just asked, "Got anything to eat?"

I suddenly remembered—when he charged into the swamp, he hadn't brought anything. Judging by his appearance, he probably hadn't eaten for over twenty hours.

I led him out, poured him some tea, and he ate the dry rations with it without saying a word, his face as cold as ice.

After he finished eating, I gave him a cloth to wipe his hands and hurriedly asked him what had happened—what occurred after he chased after her, and how he had caught up with us. His expression was serious as he wiped the mud from his face and spoke intermittently. His account was extremely brief, but I still understood.

It turned out that after he chased Wenjin out the night before, he pursued her for six straight hours. But tracking in the jungle was simply too hard. In the end, he lost her—he didn't know if she had hidden or run far away. When he finally stopped, he had no idea where he was.

Without any lighting equipment and having lost his target, he couldn't even see his surroundings. He calculated the time it had taken to get there and his own speed, realizing he wasn't too far from us. But if he went deeper into the rainforest, coming back would be even harder. So he curled up among the tree roots and waited for dawn to return.

This matched what we had thought at the time. Fatty had guessed he might come back after daybreak. But after dawn, things changed. He saw our signal smoke, and at the same time, he also saw the smoke that Third Uncle and his group had lit.

He judged the direction of our smoke by distance and returned to where we had left him a note, but found that place already flooded. He had to head back immediately and chase after us. But like us, following the smoke meant his route wasn't straight, and he never ran into us. Later, at night, he heard gunshots, groped his way over, followed us all the way here, and found the camp.

After hearing this, I thought to myself, what a coincidence. If it hadn't been for that big fight last night, he probably wouldn't have been able to find us. It was also lucky that he could stay so sharp and clear-headed in such harsh conditions. Still, with him back, a weight lifted off my heart. I hadn't held out any hope before.

As he wiped the mud off his body, I asked him, "We were also running for our lives and we're pretty messed up, but we didn't end up like you. What happened to get you in this state?" "This wasn't from just running—I smeared the mud on myself," he said. I was even more puzzled, thinking to myself: Are you imitating a hippo rolling in mud? Or do you have fleas? With your constitution, even fleas would only dare give you a massage if you lay in a pile of them.

He looked at the mud on his arm and explained, "It's because of those snakes…"

"Snakes?"

"Wenjin has been here a long time. With so many venomous snakes around, there must be a reason a woman like her could survive so long. And that appearance of hers was really unusual. I felt there had to be a connection between those two points. After thinking it over, I realized that the mud was the key," Poker-face said. "I smeared mud all over my body, and sure enough, the snakes seemed unable to see me."

I thought about it and suddenly understood. So that's why Wenjin looked like that weird thing. Snakes hunt by sensing heat. Covering the body with mud not only masks heat but also hides scent. It really might work.

I was overjoyed. This was really good news. That way, our chances of survival in the rainforest would be much higher. At least we wouldn't be at the snakes' mercy anymore.

Poker-face roughly wiped off the mud on his body, then looked around the camp and asked me, "Was it like this when you got here?"

I nodded and told him about our experiences as well.

I started from when we separated, keeping it as brief but clear as possible, up to the point where we arrived here not much earlier than him. The place was already empty, and the situation was a bit strange—all their personal belongings had been left behind, with no signs of violence, as if these people had calmly abandoned the camp and left without taking anything.

He listened silently, his eyes sweeping over the tents around. He didn't say anything, just pinched the bridge of his nose, as if he was also puzzled.

I said to him, "It's good you're back. Because of Panzi, we can't leave here for now, and we're all too exhausted—we need to rest and recover, or it'll be suicide. Now that there's one more of us, we can look out for each other."

He didn't say yes or no, just looked at me and said, "In a place like this, one more or one less doesn't make a difference."

I was a bit surprised he would say that, but after speaking, he stood up, grabbed a bucket, fetched some water from the pool outside the camp, then stripped off his clothes and, with his back to me, began to wash himself, rinsing off the mud. Seeing his demeanor, I knew he had nothing more to say to me, which made me a little upset, but his return was a happy thing nonetheless.

After washing, he came back and sat with his eyes closed, resting. I didn't disturb him. But I couldn't sleep either, so I took a bath too. After washing, I felt a bit recovered. I fetched some more water and went back to give Panzi a wipe-down as well. He was a bit feverish and restless, but after I finished wiping him, he fell into a deep sleep again.

I came out and saw Fatty. I figured he didn't need my help. I sat down and massaged my calves, not bothering to take out Wenjin's notebook again. I turned to look at Poker-face. He had fallen asleep too. Thinking about it, he must have been even more exhausted than us—even an iron-wrought Arhat couldn't withstand this kind of ordeal.

I kept watch like that until around three or four in the afternoon when Fatty finally woke up. Drowsy and groggy, he raised his head and saw Poker-face. He let out an "Huh?" and it took him a while to react before he said, "Damn, am I dreaming?"

Poker-face immediately woke up—clearly he hadn't been sleeping deeply. He looked at Fatty, then at the sky, and sat up too. Fatty rubbed his eyes and said, "Looks like it's not a dream. Comrade Worker-Peasant-Soldier, you've finally joined the Red Army."

Poker-face really was an amazing person. Although he was a man of few words, his appearance was like a shot of adrenaline. I could tell Fatty was genuinely happy too. So I said, "What are you so happy about? Weren't you saying you'd go it alone?"

He stood up and sat next to me, spat out a few bloody phlegms, and said, "That was before. Since Xiao Ge is back, we've gotta follow him. Follow Xiao Ge and there'll be meat to eat, right?"

I saw blood in his phlegm and knew he had internal injuries too, but he didn't seem to care, so it probably wasn't too serious. I told him to be careful.

Poker-face didn't answer. Fatty handed me a cigarette, poured some water from his canteen to wash his own eyes, and also asked Poker-face about what had happened earlier. So I relayed to Fatty everything Poker-face had just told me.

Fatty nodded as he listened. When he got to the part about mud repelling snakes, he said happily, "Holy shit, that's a great trick. With this trick, we'll save some trouble in the swamp. Damn, I just dreamed while sleeping that a snake was crawling on me, holing up in my crotch and refusing to come out. Scared the hell out of me."

I laughed. Only when Poker-face was around did Fatty's jokes seem funny. I said, "Probably it took a fancy to the little chick in your crotch. Speaking of which, have you hatched it yet?"

Fatty said, "Not yet. Soaked in water all day, it's turned into fish roe. I'll have to take it out and sun it later, so it doesn't get moldy."

I burst out laughing. Fatty also laughed and slapped me a few times: "What are you laughing at? I don't believe yours is still dry. Want to take them out and wring them?"

I shook my head and said, "No need." Fatty told me to rest. Although I was a bit excited, my physical fatigue was irreversible. Soon after I lay down, I fell asleep. Probably because Poker-face was there, I slept deeply this time, feeling especially at ease, and didn't wake up until evening.

The sunset was red. I got up and smelled something fragrant—Fatty was cooking something, though I didn't know

His hands and feet had no strength at all. He almost crawled to the bonfire, leaned against a rock, his hands trembling, and heard Fatty talking to Poker-face, asking him what his plans were.

I thought to myself, this guy is starting to stir up division again. Panzi is useless now, no one will force him to go find my Third Uncle, so he's starting to win over Poker-face for his own schemes. I immediately moved closer and heard him say to Poker-face: "I tell you, we absolutely cannot let Wu Xie know about this, or he'll go crazy..."