Chapter 338: Flowing Water Journey

To make a long story short, after returning to Banai I first had a good meal, then immediately rushed to a nearby county town, bought some swimming gear, instructed Agui to take it back, and then boarded a mid-size bus to leave the vast mountains behind.

The bumpy ride, combined with my anxiety, made the journey extremely agonizing. On the bus I also spotted Pan Ma's distant relative with his strong Beijing accent; he seemed deeply troubled, didn't speak the whole way, just mulled things over. He didn't recognize me either.

Back in Fangchenggang, I booked a hotel and started making arrangements. Having prepared gear before, I knew the tricks and difficulties involved, so I handled things methodically. First, I called Panzi and asked him to ship some equipment—he knew the ropes and was the most efficient. Then I had Wang Meng fly over immediately to help; I needed someone to hold down the fort.

When Panzi heard I needed gear, he was a bit worried. I lied and said it was for someone else, and he agreed. Both the gear and the people arrived five days later. I rented a car in Fangchenggang and drove everything straight to Banai. The mountain roads were incredibly steep; I only had a C-class license but had to grit my teeth and drive a large truck. It was terrifying—several times I nearly drove off the cliff, and since I hugged the cliffside the whole way, the front corners of the truck were all battered. Wang Meng's legs went weak when he got out.

The roads in Banai were all poverty-relief gravel roads; the last section was completely impassable, and it started raining heavily, so we had to switch to a smaller vehicle. The gear from the big truck was loaded onto three tractor-trailers to get it into the village. Everything went smoothly up to that point, but from the time I left until I set foot again in Banai village, two weeks had already passed.

I had originally arranged to meet Agui at the village entrance to take the gear to his house, but when I arrived at the entrance and unloaded everything, he was nowhere to be seen.

I was already exhausted and got a bit annoyed. I told Wang Meng to watch the stuff at the village entrance while I went to Agui's place to find him. The building we used for guest rooms and meals was locked tight; I knocked for a long time with no response, so I headed to his wooden house.

The wooden house door was open—this was where Yuncai and the others lived. The main hall was similar to ours, but since the kitchen wasn't here, it looked much cleaner. In the corner were some colorful baskets they weaved for tourists. New Year pictures were pasted on the walls. Their two sisters' private rooms were in the inner room, Agui slept in the side room, and a wooden ladder led to the second floor.

The local customs were simple and honest; no one locked their front doors, and the inner rooms had curtains. I called out a few times, carefully went in, and found no one. Then I yelled up at the second floor twice, but still no response. It seemed nobody was home.

I started cursing under my breath. What the hell was Agui thinking? He agreed to wait for me; how could he just disappear? Had he gone into the mountains? That would be a disaster—he was the only person I knew here, and I had no idea when he'd be back.

I was getting hot under the collar and wouldn't accept defeat. Afraid he might be working upstairs and couldn't hear me, I quickly went up and shouted at the top of my lungs.

Between the first and second floor there was a bamboo-woven door-like thing pressed against the floorboards. I pushed it open easily and climbed up. Upstairs was a hallway, at the end of which led to a wooden balcony on one side. The bamboo-plank walls looked old, probably scavenged from abandoned old wooden houses. There was a room on each side. One was used for storage, filled with woven baskets and stretched-out animal hides drying. The other door was closed; I knocked for a long time with no response. It seemed no one was there. I took a few deep breaths to calm down; getting angry was useless. Then I suddenly remembered—behind this door was supposed to be the room of Agui's son, as he had mentioned.

He only talked about his son; I had never seen him. I suspected the son might have some disability and didn't show himself much. Why wasn't he home today either? I got curious and peered through the crack in the door. It was very dim inside; I could only see many things hanging on the wall—couldn't make out what they were, seemed like paper scraps. But there was definitely no one, and I didn't see any everyday utensils—it was completely empty.

I thought it was strange. His son slept in a room like this? How could anyone live in it? I tried to push the door open to get a closer look, but it didn't budge, as if something was bolted from inside.

I didn't have time to dwell on this. I put aside my curiosity, went downstairs, and asked the neighbors. They said Agui hadn't been seen for a long time—seems he went into the mountains two weeks ago and hadn't come out. But they weren't sure, because Agui often traveled to pick up guests. His younger daughter had gone to her grandfather's house in a neighboring village due to days of heavy rain.

I cursed. Two weeks ago was when I left. It seemed he had gone into the mountains again and hadn't come out. Probably he had completely forgotten my telling him he needed to come out to meet me.

So I had to pay out of my own pocket. I asked a few villagers to help move the gear to Agui's place and had Wang Meng keep an eye on it. Then I tried to find another guide through the neighbor's help, planning to take some manageable gear and head into the mountains myself. After I got there, I'd send Agui out to bring people to carry the rest of the gear in.

When I inquired, I immediately learned why Agui hadn't come to pick me up. It turned out that after I left, it had rained for several days straight. The mountains were full of mudslides and deep mud. It wasn't just a matter of hiking out—even with a dozen people pulling mules into the mountains, total annihilation would happen in seconds. Agui and his group were probably trapped in the mountains.

This was completely unexpected. I was at a loss. But the neighbor told me not to worry too much; Agui knew how to handle things. As long as they stayed by the lake, they'd just get rained on, no major danger. However, if I wanted to go into the mountains again, I'd have to wait at least another week. If the rain didn't stop, it could be longer. In this weather, no hunter would agree to help. It wasn't a question of money.

One week. I did the math and realized it was bad. If Agui hadn't come back, they'd been without supplies for two weeks. Food was probably already depleted. Even if Agui could hunt, whether there'd be any prey in such heavy rain was questionable.