As the sun was about to set, most of the reporters outside the perimeter had already left. Their guides had vetoed the idea of spending the night in the desert. The guides were local herders hired nearby, and even if offered more money, they refused to stay overnight here.
Captain Wang of the archaeology team had also left. Before departing, he left behind several boxes of charcoal and about ten sleeping bags. These were originally for the archaeology team's use, but now that our Bureau of Paranormal Investigation had taken over, they counted as our overnight necessities here.
Sun Fatty nudged me with his elbow, eyes blinking toward a spot not far away, whispering, "There's a wild sheep over there."
Following his gaze, I really saw a yellow sheep casually wandering onto a clearing about thirty or forty meters away. That was the spot where the archaeology team dumped their trash. Normally someone would come by regularly to clean it up, but now, with such a big incident, no one had the time. The sheep was probably starving and ignoring the nearby people, burying its head in the garbage heap, searching for something edible.
Wild sheep in the desert? Let's not think about that now — meat is meat. I was about to pull out my gun but was stopped by Sun Dasheng. "Don't fire. If you shoot, Hao-tou and the others will definitely start yelling." Saying this, Sun Fatty drew a dagger (not Bureau-issued gear, but his personal prized possession), gripping it backwards, cautiously standing up and preparing to sneak toward the sheep's position.
"La-zi, come help. Soon we'll have a whole roast sheep to eat," Sun Fatty's eyes gleamed with excitement. Seems like nothing could stop him now.
"With your speed? You'll catch the sheep?" I followed him quietly, whispering.
"Not everything depends on speed, La-zi. See this dagger?" Sun Fatty flamboyantly twirled the blade. "Within ninety-eight steps, it never misses. You approach from the side, we'll trap it together."
I circled around to the sheep's rear, forming a pincer move with Sun Fatty. Unfortunately, the sheep was extremely alert, eating a few bites then raising its head to scan the surroundings. Sun Fatty had only taken a few steps when the sheep noticed him. It turned and ran directly toward me.
"La-zi! Block it!" Sun Fatty shouted.
"You block it yourself!" I was getting frustrated. Who does this fatty think I am? Liu Xiang?(Note: Liu Xiang is a famous Chinese athlete specializing in the 110m hurdles, an iconic figure who once held Olympic and world records, known as "Asia's fastest man.")
Finally, Sun Fatty made a move. He swung hard, tossing the dagger tumbling toward me.
The throwing accuracy was terrible, but the force was strong. I had no time to dodge; the dagger struck my chest. Luckily, it hit the handle, not the sharp end.
"Sun Fatty! Was that on purpose? Ninety-eight steps to pierce a sheep or me?" I held my chest, shaken, scolding.
"Save the scolding for later. First, catch the sheep!" Sun Fatty ran over.
I picked up the dagger from the ground and threw it at the sheep's hindquarters. Throwing knives was a compulsory skill in the special forces back then. Though my score wasn't great, handling a sheep was no problem.
The dagger landed precisely on the sheep's butt. It fell down with a thud but struggled up limping, continuing to run forward.
How could the lamb meat so close to my mouth get away? Sun Fatty and I chased after it. Though injured, the sheep ran fast. After a while, just as we were about to catch up, the ground suddenly gave way—a large hole opened beneath our feet, and the three of us fell inside.
For a moment, my only thought was: I'm done for. To lose my life over some mutton isn't worth it!
Maybe I was lucky from past good deeds — the pit was filled with soft sand. Though we fell from more than ten meters high, I wasn't injured. But Sun Fatty hit something and lay motionless on the sand. Could he be dead? I checked his breath—he was still alive.
That was good. I knew two ways to wake an unconscious person. Artificial respiration was out of the question, so I tried the other.
I pinched his chubby cheeks hard four times. Just as I was about to go for another four, Sun Fatty opened his eyes. He'd probably hit his head, his gaze still a bit dazed. He looked around, then reddened eyes stared at me and said, "Good bro, scared Sun wouldn't want to go alone, so I specially came with you…"
"Ptooey ptooey ptooey!" I shoved his fat face away. "If you want to die, go on your own. Don't drag me along."
"So, we're not dead? What's going on?" Sun Fatty rubbed his triple chin, feeling a tightness somewhere on his body. "Why's my face swollen?"
"Swollen? No, you just got fatter again."
"Do you think I don't know if I got fatter?" Sun Fatty covered his face and grimaced. "Why's it burning?"
"You probably hit something when you fell," I quickly changed the subject. "Forget the face for now. You're still well-fed and shiny. First, let's think about how to get out."
Sun Fatty looked toward the hole's mouth. "About twelve or thirteen meters up?"
"At least fifteen," I replied.
He eyed the pit's walls and then me. "La-zi, can you climb out?"
I smiled bitterly, grabbed a chunk of wall plaster, and easily pulled off a whole piece. "The walls are badly weathered, crumbly inside and out. They won't hold my weight."
Sun Fatty blinked a few times, thought for a moment, then took out his phone, muttering, "Then let Po Jun come pick us up. Just gonna get Hao-tou's scolding. No big deal. No signal? La-zi, do you have signal?"
I looked at him helplessly. "In a desert pit fifteen meters underground? Signal's the last thing here."
Sun Fatty mumbled, "We lost big this time. Half our lives for a sheep. Hmm, where's that sheep?" Then he started looking around.
Right, where did the sheep go? I almost forgot there should still be one in the hole if not for Sun Fatty's reminder. The pit wasn't big, just a few circles around and you'd see everything—no way it was missing.
By now, the sun had completely set, and the pit was pitch black with no light. Luckily, both Sun Fatty and I benefitted from the Heavenly Eye, so seeing around wasn't a problem.
Fatty's eyes were sharp. Following the blood trail left by the wild sheep, he discovered a barely noticeable cave. It seemed the sheep had slipped into the cave there. After measuring the size of the hole, Sun Fatty suddenly perked up."Lazi, it looks like we can get out here." He said, then cautiously hunched and tried to crawl into the cave.
I grabbed Sun Fatty's arm. "Wait a moment. Let's scout first! See what's inside the cave. Since when did you get so brave? Hey, give me your lighter for a bit."
"You don't have one?" Sun Fatty's lighter was a genuine Zippo, part of the proper nightclub trio, usually kept hidden unless there was a girl around to show off to.
"Cut the crap. I lent mine to Pojun, and he hasn't returned it yet." I waved my hand impatiently in front of him.
Reluctantly, Sun Fatty pulled out the lighter and handed it over. "There's not much fuel left. Just make do with the light."
I didn't respond and took the lighter, flicking it on and tossing the small flame into the cave entrance. The brief glow revealed the rough situation inside. Although we both had the Heavenly Eye to see in the dark, a bit of actual light was safer.
After confirming it was safe, Sun Fatty and I crawled into the cave. On the other side of the entrance was a stone chamber, similar to a northwestern yaodong (cave dwelling). It was empty except for six stone pedestals arranged in a hexagonal pattern.
Sun Fatty put away his lighter and began to look around. "Where's the sheep? There's no door here. Where'd it run off to?"
"It's here." I found half of a sheep, or rather, a sheep skeleton, tucked behind the last stone pedestal. In just a few minutes, the sheep had been skinned and deboned so thoroughly it looked like a specimen in a laboratory—no shred of meat left. The bleached white bones looked completely unappetizing in this setting. Just last night, Sun Fatty and I had a spicy sheep spine hotpot. Now, it seemed, we'd be eating vegetarian for a while.
Sun Fatty's face changed, and he exclaimed, "What the hell? Even Donglaishun doesn't have skills like this!"(Note: Donglaishun is a famous hotpot restaurant chain.)
I pulled out my handgun and flipped off the safety. "Get your weapon ready. We don't want to end up like this skeleton."
Sun Fatty gripped his gun tightly. "What do we do now? Crawl back to the hole?"
I shook my head. "No way. Going back is just waiting to die. The space there is too cramped. If anything comes, we won't even have a chance to form the Bagua formation. Here, we still have a shot to fight."
Sun Fatty said, "So we just wait here? Even if we don't become skeletons, we'll starve."
While he was speaking, I noticed something odd about his face and asked, "Dasheng, what's wrong with your face?"
"Face? It still feels tight and hot. Lazi, be honest—did you hit me earlier?" Sun Fatty touched his thick cheek.
Looking closely, I finally noticed the strange marks. On both his cheeks were black palm prints—smaller than a normal hand, and each with only four fingers.
"Dasheng, did something touch your face? I'm serious." I asked.
"No. What's wrong? Am I disfigured? I didn't feel anything." Sun Fatty looked scared, wanting to find a mirror but couldn't.
"Wait right there. Don't move." I took out my phone and snapped a photo of his face. The instant the flash went off, a little blue figure appeared above Sun Fatty's head—like a Smurf from a cartoon. The flash died, and the little blue figure disappeared.
Startled, I took several more shots, but the blue figure didn't reappear.
"Alright! Stop flashing, you're blinding me." Sun Fatty covered his eyes and shouted.
I looked carefully around but saw nothing. This little blue figure seemed to have the ability to avoid my Heavenly Eye. Checking the phone gallery, there was indeed a close-up photo of Sun Fatty and the blue spirit. I showed the screen to Sun Fatty.
He shivered and spun around several times, flailing his arms. "What kind of monster is this? Lazi, help me get it off."
I circled with him, saying, "It's gone now. Probably left."
Just then, a blue shadow suddenly leaped from behind Sun Fatty toward me.
I reacted instinctively, firing my gun. But the blue shadow was even faster; at the moment I pulled the trigger, it twisted and darted back behind Sun Fatty. The speed was incredible—when the bullet left the barrel, it was already behind him.
The bullet whizzed past Sun Fatty's scalp. He shouted, "Where are you shooting?!"
"Didn't you see? Turn around slowly." I pointed the gun at Sun Fatty.
His fat cheeks twitched uncontrollably. "Hold your gun steady, don't shoot wild. See what? Did you see it?" He said as he slowly turned in a circle.
Nothing. The shadow had disappeared. I lowered my gun and released the trigger. "That thing tried to jump on you, but my shot scared it off."
Sun Fatty was still uneasy. "Lazi, take another look. Are you sure it's not on me?"
I carefully scanned around him. "It's gone. Must've been scared off by my bullet."
Sun Fatty brought up another point. "Lazi, didn't you miss that shot? You can miss?"
That was hard to answer. I judged that shot perfectly. By trajectory, it was impossible for the shadow to dodge, yet at the instant the bullet left the barrel, it somehow moved faster.
While we were on high alert, we suddenly heard two dull thuds from inside the cave we entered. Without hesitation, both our guns aimed at the cave entrance.
"Lazi, Dasheng, are you in there?" A voice called out. It was Pojun. Never noticed how nice his voice sounded before.
"We're here! Over here!" Sun Fatty and I shouted back. Moments later, two people crawled in from the other side of the cave. Unexpectedly, Hao Wenming led, with Pojun struggling behind him. The tall man had trouble climbing up.
"Boss Hao, thanks for coming." Sun Fatty and I quickly walked over. Hao Wenming didn't respond but immediately noticed the six stone pedestals and circled them several times before spotting the sheep skeleton.
"Boss Hao, something's wrong here. Dasheng and I saw a little blue monster just now—it was so fast the bullet couldn't hit it." I told him while following behind.
Hao Wenming ignored me and focused on the pedestals. After circling again, he finally stopped and muttered to himself, "We were all wrong. This isn't the palace of the Great Yuezhi Kingdom at all."