Escape from ancient civilization

Chapter 002: Up the hill

I, being the impulsive person that I am, wouldn't have stubbornly come all the way to Tibet otherwise. Now that the decision was made, I didn't think too much about it. I waited for those guys to dawdle and put on their backpacks, then led them to catch up with Old Wang in front.

Before we set off, Old Wang leashed that lazy Tibetan Mastiff and gave Xiao Bai a few instructions. Seeing the two of them like that made me even more annoyed. I thought to myself that I must find a way to get transferred upon returning.

With that in mind, I hurried to catch up with the Lieutenant Colonel. I had heard that he was a section chief in the division, in charge of communications. If I could get close to him, I might have a chance to escape this forsaken place.

To act was my style. As I approached with my backpack, I noticed that Lieutenant Colonel Wu's face was full of anxiety and a hint of fear.

If things went wrong, he could lose his official post. Back in university, I had dabbled in physiognomy. One look at this man's face and you could tell he was the typical kind who excels in maneuvering and scheming. Losing his position would be worse than death for him.

I made some polite conversation, but Lieutenant Colonel Wu completely ignored me, focused on following the footprints on the ground. We walked like this for an hour, and the others were already complaining. Although Lieutenant Colonel Wu was still anxious, he had to stop. Fortunately, I had just graduated and hadn't lost my basic fitness yet. Old Wang, on the other hand, had amazing stamina and didn't seem tired at all after walking all morning.

During the break, those guys naturally gathered around Lieutenant Colonel Wu. I didn't have to guess to know what they were talking about. It was probably nothing more than complaining about losing those two backpacks. Old Wang came over to me and, carefully avoiding their sight, said, "They're not telling us everything."

I had also felt something was off. In this situation, even if they needed our help, they should have notified our superiors first. But they actually came here on their own. It's at least 20 kilometers from the military post on the national highway to our place. I saw them at around 9 am. In winter, they could cover 10 kilometers at most. The remaining 10 kilometers, at their pace, should take nearly three hours. Remember, this road is basically a mountain road. For people with their physique, it's already impressive that they could make it here. Three hours is a very generous estimate.

In fact, they must have set off even earlier, but there were some things these people hadn't told us.

Seeing the expression on my face, Old Wang seemed to have something to say. He leaned closer and whispered, "Pay attention to those footprints."

Upon hearing this, I suddenly grasped something – the thing that had been bothering me. The footprints were spaced very evenly, unusually so. And the spacing was that of someone running.

How could a deserter have such good stamina, to run for dozens of kilometers in such a snowy night, especially in a place like Tibet?

This was too unusual!

When I saw the footprints earlier, I wasn't fully focused on them. Although I found them strange, I didn't think deeply about it.

But the strangest thing along the way wasn't the footprints, but Lion, the Tibetan Mastiff. This guy usually hardly moves, but today he was unusually excited, practically dragging Old Wang along the whole way.

Anyway, in the end, Lieutenant Colonel Wu and his group came to a decision. He came over to me and asked, "Xiao Zhao, we don't need to carry these backpacks to chase a deserter, do we?"

Lieutenant Colonel Wu taking the initiative to talk to me made me a little happy. But when I turned to see Old Wang's expression, I immediately realized what he meant by them hiding something.

Although I also wanted to get close to Lieutenant Colonel Wu, I did have a bad temper. The thought of him hiding something from me made me upset, and I couldn't help but say, "Are you hiding something from us?"

I deliberately emphasized the words "you" and "us" to remind him that I wasn't one of them.

Lieutenant Colonel Wu's expression changed, as if he was about to lose his temper. Unfortunately for him, although I was usually lazy, I had a strange temper – the typical type who responds to kindness but not to force. If he spoke nicely, I would listen obediently. But if he tried to use his rank to pressure me, as long as it crossed my limit, I wouldn't give him any face.

His expression changed several times. Although I was a bit uneasy, my face became calmer. If I didn't have this ability, I would have been dealt with by my teachers long ago.

After a stalemate, he softened. He looked at Old Wang and me and said, "It's actually not a big deal. This person escaped last night."

Escaped at night?

I looked at Old Wang suspiciously. His brow furrowed as if he had thought of something. After a while, he turned to Lieutenant Colonel Wu and said, "Leader, he didn't just slip away quietly, did he?"

Hearing Old Wang's words, I was confused. Was the time so important?

However, Lieutenant Colonel Wu suddenly stepped back as if frightened. Old Wang stared at him and suddenly smiled. "I was just saying that, Leader. Don't blame me."

I rarely saw Old Wang smile. Seeing him smile now made me feel that there might really be something hidden behind this matter, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

This commotion made Lieutenant Colonel Wu forget his original purpose, and those followers could only continue to carry their backpacks and follow us.

But after stopping for a while, I felt much colder. Continuing to move forward like this made me feel a little uncomfortable. I felt like I was losing strength very quickly. Of course, this was partly because we were going uphill. The higher we went, the lower the air pressure and the less oxygen. But it was really hard on those followers. The backpacks changed hands several times, and they were still so tired that they could barely straighten their backs.

And Lieutenant Colonel Wu's face had been gloomy ever since Old Wang asked that question. It made me lose all interest in talking to him.

You know, I wouldn't go out of my way to be friendly to someone who's giving me the cold shoulder. What's more, I was full of questions now. I wouldn't be satisfied until I figured things out. So now I was more concerned about Old Wang. He and I walked in front, about 100 or 200 meters ahead of the others. You know, Linzhi is full of dense primeval coniferous forests. Although 100 or 200 meters wouldn't completely block our view of each other like in a rainforest, it was enough to prevent them from hearing our conversation.

I knew Old Wang was walking so fast because he had something to tell me. Sure enough, as soon as we were out of sight of the others, he handed me something.

It was nothing other than a bottle of Wuji Balm, which we used in the summer to treat common insect bites.

Taking the balm, I asked softly in confusion, "What's wrong? Why do we need this in winter?"

Old Wang's expression wasn't good. He looked back to make sure the others couldn't hear us before saying, "Rub this in your ears. And also, about those people behind us, you can't completely believe what they say, but you can't completely ignore it either."

Old Wang's serious expression made me feel that things seemed to be getting worse.

After giving me the balm, Old Wang slowed down. I knew he was giving me a chance to apply the medicine. Although my doubts grew heavier, I gritted my teeth and rubbed the balm into my ears. The sensation was something I didn't want to recall – it was extremely irritating.

After applying the balm, I also slowed down and rejoined Old Wang and the others. Lion was the most energetic one among us, full of vigor along the way. It even made me wonder if he was experiencing a final burst of energy before death.

After walking all morning, we were getting closer and closer to the real primeval forest. Compared to this, our communication station was at best just a little bit of outer skin next to the forest. There were no roads here, only small paths created by some unknown animals burrowing through the bushes that we could squeeze through.

The surrounding trees were terrifyingly tall. From a distance, they just looked like the pine trees we usually saw. But when we got closer, we realized that these pine trees in the depths were like the grandfathers, or even ancestors, of those 10 to 20-meter-tall pine trees outside.

Just before noon, we encountered a huge tree blocking the road. In fact, along the way, if Lion hadn't been pulling us forward, we would have lost track of the deserter long ago. But this time, the tree was indeed too big. I estimated its diameter to be nearly two meters. I wondered how many years it had grown in this forest. When it fell, it created a large open space around it, allowing us to bask in the sun.

In Tibet, as long as there is sunshine, you won't feel too cold. Wu section chief they several seem really to the limit, we also just here to have a rest.

The lion himself found a tree behind the dry place lay down, the Tibetan mastiff this dog, a few days will not have a big problem, I did feel a little tired, did not eat much in the morning, now also feel hungry, fortunately, Lao Wang prepared a lot of compressed food and self-heating food. At this time a rare rest, I pulled a bag of cookies to chew up.

And Wu section chief they several, but beyond my expectation did not open them in the bag to eat, just sit there panting for breath. They set out so early to be more hungry than we were.

Look at Lao Wang, but he is sitting aside thinking about what, but his expression is not like some good thing.

At this point, I suddenly felt a shiver on my body, a sudden fear made me tremble.