C58 Mists

Our camp, halfway up the mountain between the Lost Sea and the Great Fog Mountain, faced Lake Chilhoe, with the forest at its back.

Like all national park campgrounds, no signal towers had been built here to protect the ecological environment. If we were to call the police, we'd have to drive forty minutes to the nearest town.

"Do any of you know when M went out?" I asked.

Darwin and Fatty both shook their heads. Sayaka, who was sleeping on the outermost side, thought for a while and said, "I remember when I vaguely remember she opened the tent and went out. I thought she was going to the toilet at that time …"

"Did you notice when she opened the tent that the camp lights were off?"

"... At that time, it should have been completely dark outside. " Sayaka recalled and said.

"The lights in the barracks are usually out at ten o'clock, which means that M left after ten o'clock." I thought about it.

"Dick, take out the map of the camp," Darwin said as he took out a pen from his bag. "An adult's average walking speed is 3 kilometers per hour, so the place that she can go to within 2 hours is within this range —"

Dick spread out the map. Darwin drew a semicircle on the flat road, and then drew another narrower semicircle in the areas covered by the forest.

"It would be more difficult to walk in the forest. You could only travel one kilometer an hour."

"But this area is still very large! We don't have the ability to search such a large area... " Dick frowned.

"But we can use the elimination method first …" Sayaka took a pen and drew the line of the forest surrounding the campsite.

The camp was a clearing the size of a football field, covered with light sand and stones that made it easy to camp, surrounded by trees.

"It's raining now, and if M really goes into the forest, he'll leave footprints in any entrance to the woods at the edge of the camp."

The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Sayaka and I were in a group, while DickPound and Darwin were in a group.

The soil in the forest was very soft. Even a light step could leave a clear footprint after absorbing the rain.

"No footprints and no other marks." When we met up with Darwin, we spoke at the same time.

"Not into the woods! She went down the road! " Dick said as he started the car.

Dick turned the throttle out of the camp and stopped at the intersection of the road.

There are two paths in front of us. Up is the Great misty mountain, and down is the Lost Sea at the foot of the mountain.

The rain hit the glass, and it was dark except for the headlights.

"Go where?" Dick turned around and looked at Darwin.

"Did you hear anything?" I opened the window and shivered as the rain splattered my face.

"Tap." Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. "Da …" It sounded like an animal running in the rain, treading on pine trees.

"Animals are running …"

Before I could finish speaking, Darwin shouted at Fatty, "Go down the mountain!"

"Is there a horse in the forest?" I asked, puzzled.

"I'm afraid it's not a horse …" Dick frowned and said, "But this isn't scientific …"

"What is going on?"

"Do you know the lake at the bottom of the mountain?" the fat man asked me.

I nodded my head. It was that so-called Lake Qirhaoyi. It had a weird name.

"Rumor has it that Chilhowee was translated from the appellation of the natives of the Early Rise, meaning 'the Valley of the Deer King.'" The fat man thought for a moment. "But that was more than a hundred years ago …"

"Brake!"

Sayaka screamed, causing the fatty to suddenly stop. My entire body nearly flew out.

One, two, three, ten. Countless male stags, transnational shrubs and pine needles swarmed out of the forest from all directions. They crossed the road and ran down the mountain.

Not ten meters away from the car was a snow-white male stag.

The white deer was larger than the average deer, with two enormous horns on its head.

It did not show any signs of panic as it leisurely took two steps forward and turned around to take a look. There was no fear in its eyes. Instead, it calmly stared at us.

It was as if it represented the forest, standing on this wide, quiet earth, looking at each other as equals, not as humans and animals.

For a moment, its aura oppressed me to the point where I couldn't speak.

After a few seconds, it leapt forward and disappeared into the dark forest.

"..." "Damn, the legend of the Deer King is actually true …" It took Fatty half a minute to regain his senses.

"There are eight horns on the head of an ordinary deer. There were at least twenty white deer just now …"

"I once had an Indian classmate who said that in North American Indian culture, deer symbolize 'messengers'." Darwin looked at the deer herd that was getting further and further away.

Therefore, 'The Valley of the Deer King' could also be called 'The Valley of the Messenger'... Is it?

I thought to myself.

"Fortunately, they are vegetarians …" The fat guy laughed without thinking.

"You still have the nerve to joke now!"

"..." I think we should return to Lost Sea to take a look. " Darwin suddenly said.

"The park has been closed for a long time now. She can't enter either!" Dick frowned.

"Yesterday, when we went in for sightseeing, M was always very scared. She seemed to have a fear of the secret room …" Sayaka didn't quite agree with him, "People would instinctively avoid things that she's afraid of, so I don't think the possibility of her returning is very high …"

"Do you remember?" Darwin turned to me and asked: "When we first met M, it was also raining, and when you invited her to take the car, it was only ten minutes away and she preferred to walk — but this time we were out on a trip, it was six hours and she got in without thinking — I don't think she was afraid of the things themselves, she was not afraid of the cars, she was not afraid of the caves."

I suddenly remembered that day when M had refused to get in the car and had curled up under the eaves.

At the time, I thought she was afraid of sitting in a car, but these days she was perfectly normal and showed no signs of resistance.

"Could it be that M is not afraid of all the 'cars', but of the 'cars' that appear at some particular moment? "For example, was she afraid of 'the car in front of the auditorium at 6: 35 when she first saw me'?" I asked.

Darwin nodded his head: "That's why I feel that Sayaka's theory is not suitable for M. She was very afraid of the cave yesterday, but it does not mean that he is the same today."

We parked outside the view area and slipped under the toll-bar. After walking for a while, they arrived at the entrance of the cave.

The locked glass door outside was smashed open. Beside him was a large stone.

"Oh, cake! I didn't realize that M is the real man! " Dick looked down at the brick of stone on the floor and turned to me. "I don't think I've offended M before, do I?"

Inside the glass door was a waiting room with a souvenir window on one side and a cash register on the other.

Right in the middle was the metal tunnel that led to the cave.

"Wait a moment, don't go in yet," Darwin raised his head and looked around vigilantly: "You guys go find the monitor where it is located."

We observed the area outside the door, but there weren't any monitors in the waiting room. However, careful Sayaka was able to notice that there was one at each entrance of the cave and one at the cashier counter.

"Dick, get my computer from the car." Darwin told us to wait outside, he took his computer and walked into the cashier's desk for around ten minutes, then waved his hand at us:

"Come in."

"Minnesota!"

The cave was dark except for my reply.

"I remember where I turned on the light to the guide when I came in yesterday." Sayaka gestured for us to follow her.

The interior of the cave was filled with energy-saving lamps. Each switch controlled an area, but there was no central control circuit system. Sayaka brought us and turned three switches. At least there were lights on the shore.

It was nearly ten minutes from the entrance to the docks, and there were caves and crossroads. We called M's name and walked all the way to the docks.

Since there was no underwater light switch, the lake was dark except for a single light on the dock.

There were a total of three sightseeing boats, all docked on the shore.

"The boat hasn't even gone out yet. We should go back and find it." Dick said, "Did M go into some cave?"

We walked back and forth, but no matter how we shouted, there was no response.

Perhaps it was the rain, but the cave was wet and cold, and only our echoes lingered in the empty cavern.

On the third trip back to the pier of the Lost Sea, Shaya suddenly stopped.

"That's not right."

"Sayaka, is it appropriate for you to be so frightening now …" Dick was shocked by Sayaka.

"There's a problem!"

Sayaka looked at me and said:

"Wang, the first time we walked through the entrance, we took nearly 10 minutes …" Sayaka looked at me, then looked at her watch:

"But I remember, yesterday when we came, the sightseeing time was one and a half hours, and there was half an hour spent on walking …" And then when I used that watch just now... "This time, we only took 8 minutes 57 seconds to walk down …"

"Sayaka, what exactly do you want to say?" Dick asked.

"She means that every time we get to the dock, we're getting shorter." Darwin looked around vigilantly.