Chapter 456: I Saw Myself

I could hardly believe my eyes. If Fatty hadn't been beside me, I would have sworn I was dreaming. But when I looked more carefully, the person had already walked away and was lost in the crowd.

Maybe my movements were too obvious; Fatty pressed me down into the bushes. I handed him the binoculars, and he looked up too.

At that moment, I felt a strange curiosity, but after that initial chill down my spine, I was surprisingly calm.

It wasn't the calm of confidence, but the calm of utter incomprehension. For a split second, I was dazed, unable to recall what I had just seen. The scene was so bizarre it almost seemed unworthy of being remembered.

Who was that guy? How well can a person really know his own face? It's a question: when we look in the mirror, do we get a complete impression of our own face? Because other people's impression of our face is three-dimensional, but our eyes, through a mirror, can only see a limited curvature. Is that really my face? I'm not even sure.

I remained calm inside, waiting for Fatty's observation. After he looked again, his face showed no surprise at all. He lay down and said, "Not many Chinese people, I think, but it's too dark to see clearly. What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I think there's someone I know in that group," I said. Whether it was the voice I heard just now or the face I saw, this statement couldn't be wrong.

"You know someone? If it were me, Fatty, that might be something, but you knowing someone is really creepy," Fatty said. "Is there a tea-egg seller from your doorstep in there?"

"No time to mess around with you. Did you see anything strange?" I asked him softly. He shook his head. "This team isn't big, but they've got all the gear. Classic American style—rely on equipment. They're heading in the wrong direction, going back. They're a team coming out of the mountains, probably heading back to the camp area. No conflict with us."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Sure. From their direction, if they go west, there's a stream. Follow it down a few cliffs and you'll reach the village. Jude Kao set up ropes there. If you have time, that route has nice scenery. And look, their packs are already deflated—supplies are gone. Definitely a team heading back to the village. Jude Kao didn't lie to us; he wouldn't send a new team down."

I nodded, hesitating inside. It seemed Fatty hadn't seen the "me" in the team. Had I been mistaken? Or had Fatty missed the chance to see it? Should I follow up again to confirm? What if I hadn't been mistaken? Then the whole thing would start heading in an incomprehensible direction.

"Tianzhen, what's wrong with you? Did you see something that's got you so distracted?" Fatty asked.

"Did you see... see someone who looks a lot like me?" I asked him.

Fatty looked at me. "You mean, like you now, or like you before?"

I told him what I had seen. He frowned. "Tianzhen, did you hit your head along the way?"

I was a bit angry. "Damn it, how long have we been together? And you still doubt my judgment?"

"It's precisely because I've been with you so long that I don't trust your judgment. Fatty here has suffered enough because of it," Fatty said. "You must have seen wrong. Let's go back."

I was already a bit hesitant, but with Fatty saying that, I got a surge of determination. I had to go up and verify it for myself. Just as we were arguing, there was a rustling in the bushes behind us. I turned around and saw Pibao crawling up too. "Third Master, Boss, I'm here too."

"What are you doing here?" Fatty asked. "Don't cause trouble. Your Third Master and I are having some quality time together."

"I've come to learn and improve from you. Didn't you say I should hang around you more?"

I asked Fatty, "When did this kid start calling you boss?"

"Charisma," Fatty said, then spat at Pibao. "Scram, don't meddle. Learning what's going on here is useless for you."

Pibao then said, "Actually, Sister Xiu was worried you didn't have enough hands, so she sent me up to help you."

Fatty glanced at me, as if there was something in his eyes. He thought for a moment and said to me, "Since he's here, I'm in favor of following them for another look."

"Why? Adding one person doesn't change anything."

"Third Master, you're good underground, but when it comes to tracking and sneaky stuff, Fatty here is the real deal. When I was young, I could chase a chicken through more than a dozen dog holes without even breathing hard. In this kind of forest, if you want to avoid being discovered, you have to follow my arrangements."

I thought to myself that Third Uncle was also a mischievous kid when he was young, probably no worse than Fatty at this. But I really wasn't capable. And given Fatty's build, for him to squeeze through a doghole, the dogs in that place must have been huge. But that kind of sarcasm was Wu Xie's sarcasm. I was wearing Third Uncle's human skin mask, and Third Uncle in this situation, in front of a junior, couldn't be so reckless. So I held back and didn't say it.

Fatty then said to Pibao, "You follow from the left, watch out for lookouts above." Then he turned to me. "Third Master, you're older. Stick with me."

I nodded to Fatty. Fatty pointed in a direction, and the three of us started moving slowly through the waist-high bushes.

Pibao split off from us. I wanted to ask Fatty for more details, but he made a shushing gesture and pulled me to slow down. I didn't know what he was up to, but I knew Fatty's ideas were usually meaningful. So I followed his pace, slowly hanging back, watching as Pibao gradually left us behind and ran to the front.

"Came to help? That little brat definitely sent him to spy on us," Fatty muttered softly. "Oh well, let him see what Fatty can do."

I knew Fatty didn't trust Xiao Hua and the others, and I didn't want to dwell on it now, so I kept quiet.

The bushes in the forest were very dense. The smell of urine on me attracted many tiny bugs. At first I noticed, but then, watching Fatty's focused expression, I got caught up in it too. All his attention was on Pibao, completely different from his joking attitude just now.

At the same time, a doubt rose in my heart.

Fatty's expression was too serious. In the past, his seriousness was always superficial. But now, looking into his eyes, I felt it was no longer the occasional seriousness that peeked through his jokes back then.

When he was talking to me just now, he clearly hadn't seemed that concerned.

This expression of his made me feel that he was very tense about what was happening. Could it be that he had seen something just now, but pretended he hadn't, in order not to worry me? No way. When had Fatty become that kind of person? He should be happy to see me worried.

We followed Pibao for a full ten minutes, by which time we had fallen more than ten meters behind. Fatty still wore that expression, but he refused to catch up.

I finally couldn't hold it in anymore and asked Fatty, "What exactly are you trying to do? If we keep this up, we'll lose them and see nothing."

Fatty immediately shushed me, pulled me closer, and said, "Following isn't the goal; seeing clearly is."

I whispered, "Can we see clearly from this far away?"

Fatty was about to speak when suddenly we heard a whistle, and a harsh warning whistle sounded.

Pibao suddenly stopped moving, and a beam of light shot toward his position.

Fatty and I immediately looked up and saw a commotion in the direction of the team ahead; everyone's flashlights had turned back and were shining toward Pibao. Fatty nodded to me and said, "Okay. Now everyone's turned around, we can see clearly."

I thought to myself, Damn, you're using him as bait, and immediately looked through the scope. In the distance, on a tree, there was a point of light moving back and forth through the grass—that was the laser sight of a sentry in the tree. No matter how Pibao ran through the grass, the laser dot clung to him. It seemed he was indeed an expert.

"This guy is good at burrowing, but he's too servile and can't observe the situation himself, and he lacks experience in big scenes. The sentries Jude Kao brought this time are especially formidable," Fatty said. "The direction I pointed Pibao to just now is the key surveillance direction of the sentries."

"Aren't you trying to get him killed?" I said.

"No, the foreigners are very environmentally friendly; their guns are loaded with rubber bullets, and they don't shoot easily. That shot just now was to alert the people ahead and test Pibao at the same time. The goal was to see if it was a person or a wild animal. If they were using real bullets, when the camp was attacked by lynxes, they wouldn't have missed the best defensive opportunity because they were changing bullets."

I looked at Fatty, surprised he had such thoughts. Fatty said, "Never seen this side of your Fatty, have you?"

I shook my head: "You've been a bit too smart lately, damn it. I've never seen you this sharp before."

Fatty said, "When I was out in the world, I wasn't exactly soft. It's just that kind of life has no meaning. Now you've only got me you can trust. If I don't help you be smarter, how can I live up to our relationship?" Then he pointed ahead. "Let's go! While Pibao's distracting them, we'll get closer."

I watched as poor Pibao was quickly surrounded by the people who rushed up, sighing inwardly. Fatty had already pulled me and moved quickly closer.

People always seem to be like this: when there's a focal point, they often ignore the real danger. Fatty deliberately chose a circuitous route, advancing bit by bit in places the flashlights couldn't reach. Jude Kao's main force was converging on one spot, and Pibao was running around everywhere. We didn't have to worry about making noise and advanced very quickly in the darkness.

When Fatty tugged at me to stop, I was already very close to them. When I looked up, I was really startled—I had never realized I could get this close, almost right at their edge.

"Even if we walk out now, they might not notice anything unusual," Fatty whispered. "Alright, look for him. Where's the person you mentioned?"

Holding the binoculars, I searched the crowd for the person I wanted to see. The flashlights had some glare, making it difficult. I searched one by one, and then with a sudden start, I saw him.

This time I had ample time to observe. I looked, and despite the glare of the flashlights, I realized with a chill that I hadn't been mistaken earlier.

I really saw a face that was extremely similar to mine.