Looking from this direction, the lake’s water surface appeared to be a kind of strange blue and black color .
“What’s in the lake?” Yang Guanfeng suddenly asked .
“Ah, there are fish,” Miao Qingfeng replied .
“Oh, I’m just curious . Don’t mind me . ” Yang Guanfeng looked at the quiet lake .
“Ah, no worries,” Miao Qingfeng said with a smile .
He had a strange feeling .
Yang Guanfeng thought the lake was a little strange . Looking at it from so far away, he felt that it was a little dark and creepy . It was as if there was something in the lake . When he was by the lake, he didn’t feel that way .
Buzz buzz…
Just as they continued to climb the mountain, there was suddenly a sound in their ears . Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a group of black flying insects . They were like bees but smaller .
“What are these?” Yang Guanfeng pointed to the flying insects .
“Be careful . That is a type of poisonous wasp on the mountain,” Miao Qingfeng hurriedly said .
Buzz! The wasps were agitated by some unknown factor . They started to attack the three men .
“Back away!”
Miao Qingfeng shouted . He quickly took out a piece of something similar to a rope from his body and lit it . A gust of pungent green smoke spread out . He kept waving it with his hand in mid-air . The smoke quickly spread out . The poisonous wasps seemed to be afraid of the smoke . They hovered in the air but did not approach .
“Let’s hurry up and go down the mountain . ”
Yang Guanfeng and the young man did not dare stay any longer . They immediately went down the mountain .
After going down the mountain, they were out of danger .
“Whew! Why did those wasps suddenly attack us?” the young man asked .
“Those wasps are territorial and will attack creatures who break into their territory,” Miao Qingfeng explained .
“What happens if you get stung by them?”
“The consequences include poisoning, redness and swelling, fever, and vomiting . Well, there won’t be any life danger . There are special antidotes in our stronghold . ”
“Are there many of these poisonous wasps on the mountain?”
“Yes . Not only is there this kind of poisonous insect, but there are also dozens of poisonous snakes and insects,” Miao Qingfeng said . “The mountain is not as peaceful as it looks . ”
“What was the thing you were burning just now?”
“It is something made from several kinds of medicinal herbs mixed together . They can repel insects, but they smell strange . ”
The trip up the mountain quickly ended . Unconsciously, they came to the lake again . To be exact, Yang Guanfeng took the initiative to walk toward the lake .
“This lake feels so strange!”
Once again, he walked closer and quietly looked at the lake . He suddenly felt inexplicably cold . The lake seemed to be a huge beast lying dormant that might devour his body at any time . The feeling was strange .
Seeing Yang Guanfeng staring at the lake, the young man beside him softly asked, “What’s the matter, Boss?”
“Nothing, just a very strange feeling,” Yang Guanfeng said with a smile after returning to his senses .
“What kind of feeling?”
“I feel this lake is strange . ”
After he said that, he saw that Miao Qingfeng, who was not far away from him, had an unnatural expression for a split second .
“Well, there is indeed a problem . ”
“How is it strange?” Miao Qingfeng asked .
“I feel as if this lake is a monster that might devour me at any time,” Yang Guanfeng said . There was no need to lie about these kinds of things .
“Hha . ” Miao Qingfeng laughed .
“Why is Mr . Miao laughing? Is there a monster in this lake?”
“Well, how should I put it? There is a big fish in the lake . ”
“How big?”
“It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen . It is 96 feet long, maybe even longer . It’s not too much to call it a monster . ”
“That big?”
“Of course, this lake is extraordinary . It has never dried up . It existed for god knows how many years before our village was built . Maybe it has a history of thousands of years . After such a long time, what is inside it would not be surprising . What do you think?”
“Has anyone ever died in it?” Yang Guanfeng suddenly asked .
“Huh?” Miao Qingfeng was stunned .
“There has been, indeed, and more than one death . ”
“You are quite frank about that . ”
“Hah, what is there to hide from you?” Miao Qingfeng asked .
“How did they die?”
“They drowned . ”
“Do people still go fishing in the lake?”
“You might also get into a car accident just by walking . Do you stay at home all day long? You might choke to death when drinking water . Do you stop drinking water?” Although Miao Qingfeng’s words were pushing it a little, they were not totally unreasonable .
“What you said seemed to be reasonable . ”
“Of course . ”
“Where else do you want to see?”
“You have the final say here,” Yang Guanfeng said .
“OK, I’ll continue to take you around . ”
The three men continued to walk around the mountain village .
Unbeknownst to them, it was getting dark .
“Accommodations have been arranged for the two of you . In the evening, our chief wants to hold a banquet for you two . ”
“Please thank your chief for his kindness . We are better off making do with some simple food . ”
“How can that do?” Miao Qingfeng asked . “You are distinguished guests from outside the village . Besides, we don’t have many outsiders in our village . ”
“Well, alright . ”
As the sky gradually darkened, Yang Guanfeng and his colleague went to the largest wooden house in the village and met the village chief again .
“Are the two of you satisfied?”
“Satisfied, very satisfied . ” Yang Guanfeng replied with a smile .
“That’s good . ”
To entertain their two foreign guests, the chief, Miao Xihe, had prepared a plentiful dinner with food from the stockade . It was natural, delicious, nutritious, and nourishing .
“Come, I’ll give you guys a toast . ”
“Thank you . ”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do . The two of them drank some wine but in moderation . They had, however, eaten quite a bit of food .
“Thank you for your warm hospitality, Chief Miao . ”
“You’re welcome . All who come from afar are guests . Our stockade is located in a remote place . It’s rare to see a guest here all year round . ”
After dinner, the two of them were taken to the house that been prepared for them . It was a clean and tidy wooden house .
“Ah, Boss, their food tastes so fresh and delicious, and the wine is good as well . ”
“Yep, what else is there?” Yang Guanfeng kept walking back and forth in the room while he was talking, searching around as if he was looking for something .
“Boss, I don’t think that Miao Qingfeng told us the truth about everything today . ”
“Oh, for example?”
“He said that there aren’t people in this stronghold who haven’t come back after leaving in the past two years . That is quite unrealistic . ”
“Oh, how can you tell?” Yang Guanfeng asked .
“When we were walking around the stockade, today I carefully observed the village . There were at least 10 houses in the village that were uninhabited . It’s apparent they have been empty a long time . ”
“Oh?”
“The yard was full of grass . Judging from the height of the grass, it has been at least a year . It could be longer than that, maybe more than three years . ”
“That’s good! There’s progress!” Yang Guanfeng clapped him on the shoulder .
“Hha, it’s all because of your great teaching,” the young man said with a modest smile .
“What else?”
“Well, Miao Qingfeng is a trained martial artist . ”
“A trained martial artist?”
“Yes, he has calluses on his hands, and they are around his knuckles . It’s definitely not from hard work . There is something fishy regarding the chief as well . ”
“What’s the problem?”
“I can’t put my finger on it, but there must be something wrong with him,” the young man said . “I simply feel that something is amiss with him . ”
“Good . You’re ready to graduate from my training,” Yang Guanfeng said with a smile .
“They do not seem to be defensive against us, but they are guarding us from every angle,” Yang Guanfeng said . “The places they showed us today were probably already tidied up and prepared beforehand . ”
“I could vaguely understand the conversation between them just now . ”
“No way! You know that too, Boss?”
“They actually speak the Tujia dialect, which is near the south of Yunnan, but it has been slightly tweaked . I can understand it on the whole . There is a problem in the dialogue between these villagers, which proves that they knew we were going to come long ago . They were ready for us before we informed them . ”
“Is there a spy among us?”
“Also, there’s something wrong with that lake . ”
“What’s the problem?”
“I can’t place my finger on it, but the lake is strange . It makes my skin crawl as a monster would,” Yang Guanfeng said .
“It can’t be that someone has died there, can it?”
“I’m sure some must have died there . I’m afraid it’s not rare . ”
In the biggest wooden house in the village…
“How is it going?”
“There were no accidents, but Captain Yang paid a little too much attention to the lake . ”
“Oh?” Miao Xihe was slightly shocked .
“What did he say?”
“He said that the lake was like a monster . He felt scared when looking at it . ”
Miao Xihe was silent for a long time .
“Master, do you need someone to watch them tonight?”
“Find someone and watch them from afar . Don’t get too close . Yang Guanfeng is a criminal investigation expert . His investigative and detection abilities must be very strong . If the person we send is found out, it would only prove that we are guilty and hiding something . They will probably not be able to find out anything . ”
“OK, I got it . ”
The night was quiet .
There were no entertainment activities in the stockade . People had been working hard all day, so they all had a relatively early bedtime . Before 9 p . m . , the stockade lights had been turned off and people had gone to bed .
They worked at sunrise and rested at sunset . They still maintained most primitive living conditions .
Yang Guanfeng laid down on the bed, recalling experiences in the village .
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc . . ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible .
Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .